2.18.2005
No Political Motives Found in IRS Probes (WashingtonPost.com)
By Albert B. Crenshaw
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 18, 2005; Page A27
The Internal Revenue Service followed "established procedures" in deciding which tax-exempt entities to investigate for possible improper involvement in last year's political campaign, and there is no evidence that the agency's decisions were politically motivated, according to an inspector general's report released yesterday.
The IRS attracted headlines last fall when the NAACP announced that the agency was threatening to revoke its tax-exempt status because its chairman, Julian Bond, had given a speech attacking the Bush administration.
Bond called the IRS investigation "Nixonian," and the civil rights group has since said it would not cooperate with the probe.
But the office of the Treasury inspector general for tax administration (TIGTA), after a probe of its own that was requested by IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson and other senior agency officials in November, found that the IRS had set up proper procedures and followed them.
"We were alert for any indications that inappropriate actions, such as political influence, may have been taken with regard to the handling of" the activities of tax-exempt organizations, but "we did not identify any," Deputy Inspector General Pamela J. Gardiner of TIGTA wrote in a memorandum accompanying the report.
But the probe did find that there were delays that pushed the IRS's first contact with the affected organizations into September, six weeks before the election. "We believe contacting organizations so close to the election and the late publicity about this project contributed to the allegations of improper motivation on the part of the IRS," Gardiner said.
(More ... No Political Motives Found in IRS Probes (washingtonpost.com)) ¶ 22:42
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 18, 2005; Page A27
The Internal Revenue Service followed "established procedures" in deciding which tax-exempt entities to investigate for possible improper involvement in last year's political campaign, and there is no evidence that the agency's decisions were politically motivated, according to an inspector general's report released yesterday.
The IRS attracted headlines last fall when the NAACP announced that the agency was threatening to revoke its tax-exempt status because its chairman, Julian Bond, had given a speech attacking the Bush administration.
Bond called the IRS investigation "Nixonian," and the civil rights group has since said it would not cooperate with the probe.
But the office of the Treasury inspector general for tax administration (TIGTA), after a probe of its own that was requested by IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson and other senior agency officials in November, found that the IRS had set up proper procedures and followed them.
"We were alert for any indications that inappropriate actions, such as political influence, may have been taken with regard to the handling of" the activities of tax-exempt organizations, but "we did not identify any," Deputy Inspector General Pamela J. Gardiner of TIGTA wrote in a memorandum accompanying the report.
But the probe did find that there were delays that pushed the IRS's first contact with the affected organizations into September, six weeks before the election. "We believe contacting organizations so close to the election and the late publicity about this project contributed to the allegations of improper motivation on the part of the IRS," Gardiner said.
(More ... No Political Motives Found in IRS Probes (washingtonpost.com)) ¶ 22:42
