Archives for January 2015

Read the full story: Politico

Senate Finance Republicans are demanding all White House communications with the IRS since 2010, curious about whether the White House asked for private taxpayer information as part of the IRS scandal. TIGTA has confirmed that it has investigated whether such information was unlawfully shared, but it will not release the findings of the probes because it says it would infringe on the privacy rights of taxpayers. Conservative group Cause of Action is suing the IRS right now to get this information. This letter shows that Hatch is ready to play hardball with the IRS investigation. Letter here: http://politico.pro/1zaTZU2

Read the full story: Newsmax

Outside groups already have tried to get a look at communications between the White House and the IRS but have been largely unsuccessful, the Times said.

 

Specifically, Cause of Action, an interest group, has gone to court to try to force the agency’s inspector general to produce documents stemming from its investigation into White House-IRS communications, but the inspector general has refused, saying it would violate the privacy of taxpayers involved.

Read the full story: Washington Times

Outside groups already have tried to get a look at the communications between the White House and the IRS, though they have largely been unsuccessful.

Cause of Action, an interest group, has gone to court to try to compel the IRS‘ inspector general to turn over documents it has stemming from its investigation into White House-IRS communications. The inspector general says it has 2,500 pages of records from its investigation but can’t turn most of them over, saying it would violate the privacy of taxpayers involved.

Read the full story: Forbes

We wouldn’t know anything about this more debilitating scandal except for a lawsuit for transparency against this promised most transparent administration in history. A non-profit group, Cause of Action, began investigating whether the IRS was improperly sharing taxpayer information with the White House in 2012. Cause of Action filed a Freedom of Information Act request for any correspondence between the IRS and White House about tax returns for individuals or businesses. When the IRS refused the request, the group filed a lawsuit.

 

Having to sue sure doesn’t seem transparent, but it gets worse. There have been a number of allegations of politically motivated IRS leaks. But proving such a thing is difficult, particularly when even the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, TIGTA, errs on the side of keeping taxpayer information confidential. Even if the confidentiality law was broken, the theory goes, it would be breaking it again to reveal the confidences that were revealed to the White House in violation of the law.