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IRS Political Targeting Investigation Timeline
March 22, 2012
The Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee, of which Congressman Marchant is a member, holds its 2012 hearing on the tax return filing season and general IRS operations. Chairman Boustany asks then-IRS Commissioner Shulman about reports that the IRS has been targeting Tea Party groups. Shulman responds, “I can give you assurances…[t]here is absolutely no targeting.”
March 28, 2012
Congressman Marchant sends a letter to IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman voicing deep concerns about inquiries by the IRS into the tax-exempt status of conservative organizations, namely Tea Party groups.
April 23, 2012
Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Boustany and 61 other House Republicans, including Congressman Marchant, sign a letter to Commissioner Shulman inquiring about reports that “numerous nonprofit civic organizations across the country have experienced extensive delays and received excessively burdensome information requests” when applying for tax-exempt status.
June 15, 2012
The IRS responds to the April 23 letter from Chairman Boustany and 61 other House Republicans, but includes no information about the IRS’s practices.
June 22, 2012
The IRS responds to the March 28 letter from Congressman Marchant relating to inquiries by the IRS for additional information from Tea Party groups. The IRS letter makes no mention of targeting Tea Party or conservative groups.
July 25, 2012
The Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee holds a hearing on charitable organizations. In response to a question from Congressman Marchant regarding reported IRS harassment of conservative groups, then-IRS Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement Steve Miller tells the Subcommittee, “I am aware that some 200 501(c)(4) applications fell into this category [the determinations letter process]. We did group those organizations together to ensure consistency, to ensure quality.” Miller made no reference to the IRS’s discriminatory practices.
Mr. Marchant: …I have been contacted by several of the groups in my district. And they feel like they are being harassed. I don’t have any evidence that that is the case. But they feel like they have been harassed and feel like the IRS is threatening them with some kind of action or audit. What kind of a letter or action is taking place at this time that you are aware of?
Mr. Miller: So if we are talking about social welfare organizations, (c)(4)s, 501(c)(4)s, then we did receive quite a few. We received an uptick, an increase in the number of (c)(4) organizations that were advocacy organizations, they were advocating on various things, which is a fine thing for a 501(c)(4) to do. It is politics that isn’t really considered to be appropriate 501(c)(4) behavior past a certain threshold because they can do politics. And what is politics also, Congressman, is, you know, it may not be what you and I would think of politics as; it is politics under the Internal Revenue Code, which is really campaign intervention. It is endorsing or arguing against a particular candidate for public office, that is politics.
So you know I am aware that there is an uptick of organizations that came into us for exemption. So it was the determination letter process, not the examination process.
I am aware that some 200 501(c)(4) applications fell into this category. We did group those organizations together to ensure consistency, to ensure quality. We continue to work those cases.
My understanding, Congressman, is something over 50 of the 200 have received exemption already, more will. But many of these organizations fall into the category that I was talking about with Congresswoman Jenkins, where they are very small organizations and they are not quite sure what the rules are, and so we are working with them to ensure that they understand what the rules are. It is my hope that some of the noise that we heard earlier this year has abated as we continue to work through these cases.
(Full transcript here)
May 10, 2013
It was revealed that the IRS had in fact been targeting conservative and Tea Party groups since 2010.
May 16, 2013
Congressman Marchant signs on as an original co-sponsor to the “Keep the IRS Off Your Health Care Act” (H.R. 2009), legislation that would prohibit the IRS from implementing or enforcing any provisions of the president’s health care law.
May 17, 2013
Ways and Means Committee holds a hearing on IRS targeting conservative groups. Congressman Marchant again questions Steve Miller, Acting Commissioner of the IRS, about targeting Tea Party groups.
May 23, 2013
Congressman Marchant sends Acting IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel a letter that calls for the IRS to expedite the processing of the still pending applications by Tea Party and any other organizations in the 24th Congressional District of Texas.
June 4, 2013
The Ways and Means Committee hosted a hearing about groups unfairly targeted by the IRS. Congressman Marchant cites how the IRS repeatedly misled Congress and dodged questions about targeting for over a year. Congressman Marchant voices the concerns of conservative groups in the 24th District of Texas that were unfairly targeted.
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August 1, 2013
Months after senior IRS officials Joseph Grant and Steve Miller resigned over evidence showing the IRS was targeting conservative groups, it is revealed the IRS still has nearly the same targeting measures in place.
September 18, 2013
During a Ways and Means hearing with the IRS Acting Commissioner, Congressman Marchant states there was more political activity in the IRS itself than among the groups the IRS was investigating. Congressman Marchant pushes for the IRS Acting Commissioner to quickly alleviate the backlog plaguing organizations in the 24th District of Texas awaiting word on whether or not they qualify for the tax-exempt status.
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February 5, 2014
Congressman Marchant confronts newly appointed IRS Commissioner John Koskinen about the administration’s refusal to give Congress and the American people the full truth about the IRS’s unlawful political targeting.
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February 11, 2014
The Stop Targeting of Political Beliefs by the IRS Act of 2014 (H.R. 3865), a bill cosponsored by Congressman Marchant, is passed out of the Ways and Means Committee. The Treasury Department proposed new regulations that essentially legalize unfair political discrimination against conservative social welfare organizations. With the Ways and Means Committee investigation into the IRS’s political targeting still incomplete, H.R. 3865 would prevent the administration from imposing these regulations until the ongoing investigation has concluded.
February, 26, 2014
The Stop Targeting of Political Beliefs by the IRS Act of 2014 (H.R. 3865), passes the House by a vote of 243-176. Congressman Marchant is an original cosponsor of the legislation.
February 27, 2014
The Ways and Means Committee, of which Congressman Marchant is a member, submits comments on proposed 501(c)4 rules and requests an extension of comment period.
March 7, 2014
The Ways and Means Committee announces that the IRS has agreed to turn over emails and documents of former IRS official Lois Lerner’s that pertain to the Committee’s investigation.
April 9, 2014
The Ways and Means Committee refers former Internal Revenue Service Exempt Organization Division Director Lois G. Lerner for possible criminal prosecution for violations of one or more criminal statues based on evidence the Committee uncovered in the course of the investigation of IRS abuses.
Congressman Marchant releases statement upon Ways and Means Committee’s decision to pursue criminal charges of Lois Lerner with the Department of Justice.
May 7, 2014
The House passes H. Res. 574, a bill which would hold Lois Lerner in contempt of Congress for her refusal to cooperate with the House’s IRS targeting investigation. The House also passes H. Res. 565, a bill calling on the Attorney General to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the IRS’s political targeting of conservative groups.
Congressman Marchant votes in favor of both bills and issues a statement of support following their passage. Read his statement here.
May 8, 2014
The Ways and Means Committee announces that the IRS will finally provide all of Lois Lerner emails, regardless of subject matter, as previously requested by the Committee.
June 13, 2014
The IRS informs the Ways and Means Committee that it cannot produce all of Lois Lerner’s emails as promised due to a supposed crash of Lerner’s computer. The news is delivered to the committee late on a Friday afternoon and is buried on page 15 of a 27-page document.
June 20, 2014
Congressman Marchant confronts IRS Commissioner John Koskinen about Lois Lerner’s lost emails during a Ways and Means Committee hearing and presses him to exhaust all efforts to recover the emails.
Following the hearing, Marchant calls on Koskinen to pursue and provide all emails between Lerner and the White House, Treasury, Federal Elections Commission (FEC), and any other federal agency with which Lerner may have communicated. Marchant’s letter can be found here.
Koskinen replies in writing that the IRS has contacted the FEC to request that they search for and provide any Lerner emails they may possess. His written response can be found here.
June 25, 2014
Marchant takes to the House floor to demand that a special prosecutor be appointed to pursue Lois Lerner’s lost emails and work to uncover all remaining evidence of the IRS’s political targeting.
July 30, 2014
The Ways and Means Committee releases newly uncovered Lois Lerner emails which clearly illustrate her deep personal bias against conservatives. During an email conversation between Lerner and a coworker – whose identity has been concealed in the publicly released documents – Lerner refers to conservatives as “a–holes” and “crazies,” and even suggests that conservatives could bring down the federal government.
These emails have been referred to the Justice Department by the Ways and Means Committee as additional evidence of possible criminal actions taken by Lois Lerner.
February 27, 2015
Acting in response to previously uncovered evidence that Lois Lerner used a personal, unsecure email account to transmit classified taxpayer information, Marchant introduces the IRS Email Transparency Act (H.R. 1152). The legislation would make it against the law for IRS officers and employees to use a personal email account to conduct official business.
Although the IRS has guidelines against the use of personal email for official business, the practice – which puts the security of taxpayer information at risk and allows the IRS to operate without proper oversight – is not expressly prohibited.
“The last thing hardworking taxpayers should have to worry about is the security of their confidential information being compromised due to IRS negligence or abuse,” Marchant said upon introducing the bill. “My bill shines a light on the problem, takes action to solve it, and helps prevent IRS harassment of taxpayers from ever happening again.”
Marchant’s full press release announcing the introduction of H.R. 1152 can be found here.
More information:
Washington Post – GOP congressman wants to ban IRS employees from using personal e-mails for work
March 25, 2015
The Ways and Means Committee advances Marchant’s IRS Email Transparency Act.
More information:
Dallas Morning News – Marchant bill banning use of personal email for IRS business passes Ways and Means
April 15, 2015
The House unanimously passes the IRS Email Transparency Act. Prior to the bill’s passage, Marchant argues during debate that “Congress has a responsibility to protect taxpayers,” and moving this bill forward would do just that while also bringing greater transparency and accountability to the IRS.
The video of Marchant’s remarks during debate can be found below. A full transcript can be found here.
Documents:
If you feel that you have been targeted by the IRS, I encourage you to share your story on the House Ways and Means Committee’s website here. |
