Based upon everything I’ve seen, the case is solved. And if it were me, I would wrap this case up and move on.Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) • Discussing testimony for a conservative Republican at the Internal Revenue Service which he says proves that the White House was not involved in an effort at the agency to target Tea Party groups. Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, says that if the chairman of the committee, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), does not release the transcripts from the IRS employee by the end of the week, he would. Issa, in case you haven’t been following the inner-workings of Congress, has used the position to push for multiple investigations into the Obama administration.
A pair of IRS officials – including a senior staffer implementing the Democratic healthcare law – has been placed on administrative leave for accepting hundreds of dollars in free food and gifts at an agency conference, according to congressional sources.
In all, the staffers – named by one source as Fred Schindler and Donald Koda, who both work on implementation of the Affordable Care Act – received over $1,100 in free food and other gifts at a 2010 California conference that was the centerpiece of a recent Treasury audit, according to information given to congressional investigators.
Both officials are accused of accepting gifts during the same IRS conference which became the go-to example of government excess for several months back in 2010. The Treasury Department’s recently released audit of said conference revealed that it cost the Internal Revenue Service more than $4 million in total.
The Internal Revenue Service official at the center of the Tea Party targeting controversy will refuse to answer questions from lawmakers Wednesday.
Lois Lerner, the head of the exempt organizations division of the IRS, will exercise her rights under the Fifth Amendment when she appears before the House Oversight Committee as scheduled Wednesday.
Can’t say we’re shocked by this news, considering all those involved are likely to end up in court at some point in the future.
Dear Colleagues,
It is with regret that I will be departing from the IRS as my acting assignment ends in early June. This has been an incredibly difficult time for the IRS given the events of the past few days, and there is a strong and immediate need to restore public trust in the nation’s tax agency. I believe the Service will benefit from having a new Acting Commissioner in place during this challenging period. As I wrap up my time at the IRS, I will be focused on an orderly transition.
While I recognize that much work needs to be done to restore faith in the IRS, I don’t want anyone to lose sight of the fact that the IRS is comprised of incredibly dedicated and hard-working public servants.
During my 25-year IRS career, I am profoundly proud to have worked alongside you and to be part of an institution that has worked hard to support the nation. I have strong confidence in the IRS leadership team to continue the important work of our agency.
I want to thank everyone for all of their support and friendship during my career in government service. And I especially want to thank each and every one of you for your continued commitment to the nation’s taxpayers.
Miller was forced to resign as a result of the past week’s IRS scandal.
Any one of those stories would be enough to knock an Administration back on its heels. All three — and with the IRS and AP stories coming in rapid succession over the past 96 hours — threaten to permanently derail Obama’s plans to fortify his presidential legacy in the first 18 months of his second term.
The problems are both practical and symbolic. They have both short term and long term political consequences. And almost none of it portends well for President Obama and his Administration.
Another point here worth considering: “Remember that President Obama was elected in 2008 in no small part because of his pledge to be the anti-George W. Bush. That is, prizing competence over all in governance and putting a premium on transparency. And both of those pillars are undermined by developments in the past four days.”
Nearly half of U.S. taxpayers would be unable to file their 2012 taxes — or receive their refunds — until at least late March if Congress fails to enact legislation by the end of this year to restrain the alternative minimum tax, the head of the Internal Revenue Service said Tuesday.
In a letter to Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Acting IRS Commissioner Steven T. Miller said the agency made “a risk-based decision” not to reprogram its computer systems to account for the expiration of legislation that limits the reach of the AMT to about 4 million households each year.
Since that legislation expired in December, the AMT is in line to hit about 33 million people in the 2012 tax year, the letter said — hitting about 28 million of those families with an unexpectedly large tax bill.
Expect to see a lot of discussion about the alternative minimum tax (AMT) dominate cable news and AM radio in the near future. We don’t think much fighting will occur in the House or Senate, because both sides have something to lose with its expiration, but political posturing is practically guaranteed on tax-related legislation. source
United States Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson says something has to change. Olson, who makes a yearly report on the collective state of tax compliance, says we spend too much time paying our taxes, and the process is way too overwhelming. ”There has been near universal agreement for years that the tax code is broken and needs to be fixed,” she says. ”Yet no broad-based attempt to reform the tax code has been made.” Some of her findings:
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