Internal Revenue Service employees were instructed to flag political groups seeking tax-exempt status if they touted literature containing “anti-Obama rhetoric” and “emotional” statements, according to recently uncovered agency documents obtained by USA Today.
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“As prominent politicians publicly urged the IRS to take action on tax-exempt groups engaged in legal campaign intervention activities, the IRS treated tea party applications differently,” the report states. “Applications filed by tea party groups were identified and grouped due to media attention surrounding the existence of the Tea Party in general.”
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“It was my understanding that the reason they were identified is because they were likely to attract media attention,” one of the employees in the exempt organizations division told investigators.
“Despite repeated attempts to conflate the issues and downplay the IRS’s treatment of conservative-oriented applications, the facts are clear that the IRS systematically processed conservative-oriented applications in a wholly disparate and unique manner,” the investigators concluded. “The treatment received by Tea Party applicants was unprecedented for tax-exempt applicants engaged in political activity.”
NH US Senator Jeanne Shaheen played her part.
So I wonder how she feels about this: IRS spied on tea party after granting tax-exempt status
