IRS Political Targeting Report Released, Issa, Jordan To Announce Hearing Soon

WASHINGTON – Today, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) released its report on the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of organizations for their political beliefs. The full report can be found here and a summary of the findings can be found here.

The report was requested by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in June 2012.

“Today’s report magnifies our concerns about the breadth and depth of the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of organizations for their political beliefs. Unfortunately, the report raises more questions than it answers. What we do know for sure is that the IRS personnel responsible for granting tax exemptions systematically targeted conservative groups for extra scrutiny, and that officials in Washington, D.C. were aware of this practice, even while publically claiming that it never happened,” said Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif.

“We still do not know why the targeting began, how extensive it was, who initiated it and who knew about it. The IRS must be held accountable to the American people, which requires a full investigation of the circumstances surrounding the facts established in this audit,” said Subcommittee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.

Earlier today, Issa and Jordan sent a letter to the IRS seeking additional information on the political targeting and on several false and misleading statements made to the Committee in 2012.