Senate: IRS has widespread management problems

Lois Lerner, the key figure in the controversy over the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative groups for added scrutiny, once considered opening up an audit into Bristol Palin’s compensation from a teen pregnancy charity, according to a new Senate report… Richard Burr (R-NC) released a statement on Thursday to express his disappointment with the probe’s results.

Senate investigators combed through more than a million pages of email correspondences in the wake of the IRS scandal, prompting the bipartisan panel to conclude that Lerner handled her position poorly in responding to requests from conservative groups. “I’m thankful the Finance Committee was able to compile the facts so that we can work on reforms that will prevent Americans from being targeted for their political beliefs”.

“The results of this in-depth, bipartisan investigation showcase pure bureaucratic mismanagement without any evidence of political interference”, said Wyden. The controversy led to a house-cleaning at the top of the IRS – also, to a collapse in the agency’s already feeble attempts to enforce its existing rules on political activity by 501(c)(4) “social welfare” groups. “Personal politics of IRS employees, such as Lois Lerner, also impacted how the IRS conducted its business”. IRS managers either failed in their responsibility to keep informed about the very existence of the applications, or failed to recognize the sensitivity of these applications.

The Democratic summary said the process of reviewing applications was “plagued by inefficiency, bad judgment, bad management and unwarranted delay”, but that the actions of IRS staff were not politically motivated and that there had been no influence by political appointees. Groups on both sides of the political spectrum were treated equally in their efforts to secure tax-exempt status.

Issuance of the report was delayed for more than a year after the IRS belatedly informed the Committee that it had not been able to recover a large number of potentially responsive documents that were lost when Lois Lerner’s hard drive crashed in 2011. The IRS is fully committed to making further improvements, and we want to do everything we can to help taxpayers have confidence in the fairness and integrity of the tax system. Because of this, the report recommended that any IRS employees handling tax-exempt status inquiries be precluded from any partisan campaigns and that the IRS reach decisions in such cases no later than 270 days after receiving the application.

Should the IRS be investigating the ASPCA over their use of Sarah McLachlan and her tear jerking songs?

The Finance Committee issued a series of recommendations to improve IRS management procedures.