IRS Testimony: Arrogant and Embarrassing - Federal Lawsuit to be filed Next Week Against IRS
It was a very troubling hearing to watch. Acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller, who is leaving his job about three weeks earlier than planned, appeared before the House Ways and Means Committee today to answer questions about the ever-expanding scandal at the IRS - the decision to target hundreds of conservative groups - unlawfully focusing on them because of their ideological beliefs.
Miller had nothing to offer. Nothing to help shed light on this very intrusive intimidation scheme carried out by the agency. He repeatedly told lawmakers he had no names of those responsible for this targeting campaign. His testimony was an embarrassment and underscores the kind of bureaucratic arrogance that does not sit well with the American people.
By the way, his testimony came just one day after President Obama dodged a pointed question about when the White House knew about this scandal. No direct answers from President Obama. No direct answers from the Acting IRS Commissioner.
As I told Megyn Kelly on FOX News today, we are moving forward with our plans to file a federal lawsuit next week on behalf of a number of clients - a lawsuit challenging this scheme.
We represent 27 Tea Party organizations with 10 organizations still facing investigation by a politically-motivated IRS. Further, IRS has refused to respond to a demand letter giving the agency until today to approve the tax-exempt status for the ACLJ's pending clients.
The IRS has not only refused to respond and failed to approve the tax-exempt status of 10 of our clients, the agency is still targeting and harassing our clients. Even now, after the IRS admits that to this abhorrent conduct, they are still harassing our clients. Just days ago, one of our clients received a follow-up IRS questionnaire seeking more intrusive information. Unbelievable.
As we continue to work on our complaint to be filed next week in federal court, one thing is clear. The lawsuit will name as defendants the Department of Treasury, the IRS, and government officials. It will focus on constitutional issues as well damages incurred by the organizations. We will represent a number of our clients, including groups that have received tax-exempt status and groups that are still pending. We also will represent new clients that have approached us since the IRS admitted to its intimidation strategy.
In the demand letter sent to the IRS calling for the approval of the tax-exempt status of the 10 organizations by today or face legal action, the ACLJ also noted that the IRS not only violated its own rules and regulations but "failed miserably" – noting that the "growing mistrust of the IRS is the inevitable (and totally understandable) result of its unwise actions."
Today, we also provided written testimony to the House Ways and Means Committee, which is posted here.
We informed members of Congress about the specifics concerning the harassment and abuse aimed at our clients. And, we were clear to let lawmakers know that this is still happening.
“The IRS, as well as this Administration, needs to understand that all Americans are now aware of this unconstitutional targeting of American’s First Amendment rights and demand that it cease immediately,” our letter asserts. “Only transparency and accountability to the Congress and the American public will root out corruption in the IRS.”
Of the organizations we currently represent, 15 have received tax-exempt status. Ten are still pending and facing continued harassment, many of those applications on-hold for several years. But the same IRS that's holding up approval for our clients, reacted quickly and gave speedy approval to other organizations, including the Barack H. Obama Foundation.
Despite the assertion by the IRS that this scheme originated with a couple of rogue agents out of the Cincinnati office, the fact is that the ACLJ’s clients have received letters from Cincinnati, but also from two offices in California, El Monte and Laguna Niguel as well as the national office in Washington, D.C. In fact, the Washington office sent a letter to one of our clients as recently as one month ago.
More to come.