IRS

The IRS rules on crowdfunding are nebulous, but the onus is on him to prove the donations were 'pure generosity.'

Jennifer MacMillan is a tax preparer. Her business ebbs and flows with the season. In the months before April 15, she talks with clients and pores over the records of their financial lives. She deciphers statements from their brokerages, determines how much they can claim for their home offices,…

Jennifer MacMillan is a tax preparer. Her business ebbs and flows with the season. In the months before April 15, she talks with clients and pores over the records of their financial lives. She deciphers statements from their brokerages, determines how much they can claim for their home offices,…

To understand the pragmatic realities of federal governance in the 21st century, one must recognize the existence of a fourth branch of government: the administrative state. We have some two million federal bureaucrats with extraconstitutional legislative powers. Not only do they write the reams of…

To understand the pragmatic realities of federal governance in the 21st century, one must recognize the existence of a fourth branch of government: the administrative state. We have some two million federal bureaucrats with extraconstitutional legislative powers. Not only do they write the reams of…

For more than six years, the Internal Revenue Service has been trying to fend off accusations that its process for granting tax-exempt status discriminated against applicants expressing political views at odds with those of the Obama administration. This discrimination against political viewpoints…

Many readers will doubtless be familiar with some of the tales of intimidation told in Kimberly Strassel's The Intimidation Game: How the Left is Silencing Free Speech. Strassel's great accomplishment is to bring them all together in one place. She identifies a national phenomenon and fleshes it…

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s recent outburst against Donald Trump has been roundly criticized by people of all political stripes. Insofar as her comments suggested a clear bias about cases that could come before the Supreme Court, they were clearly a mistake and a departure from the norms of Court…

Donald Trump gets audited every year by the IRS. The Republican frontrunner made the revelation in an interview today with radio host Hugh Hewitt.

The Washington Post editorialized in November that it was time to regulate how much sugar Americans consume. Sugar causes obesity, which leads to heart disease and diabetes. Government has to pick up much of the tab for treatment, which justifies the feds putting themselves between consumers and…

On October 27, the House of Representatives moved to impeach the commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, John Koskinen. It may seem odd that Koskinen is being punished since he wasn’t commissioner when the IRS scandal broke two years ago. But make no mistake, Koskinen is a worthy candidate…

It has long been good sport to make fun of the government. Ronald Reagan did it with a fine, almost deft touch. “The nine most terrifying words in the English language,” he would tell an audience, “are I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.”

The only word to describe Friday’s job report is ugly. The private sector created only 118,000 new jobs in September, early estimates of job creation in July and August were lowered, average hourly earnings dropped a tiny bit, the labor force participation rate dropped to its lowest level since…

The Washington Times reports:

In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal this morning, Representatives Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., and Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, call for the impeachment of IRS head Jim Koskinen. The congressmen accuse Koskinen of a host of serious transgressions including destruction of evidence, hiding the fact that evidence…

Bernie Becker of The Hill reports that:

This morning on America's Newsroom with Bill Hemmer on FOX News Channel, California Republican congressman Darrell Issa alleged that the IRS hasn't changed its procedures and is still targeting conservative groups.

Republican Jim Jordan went on Fox News this morning to discuss the fact that Republicans in the House of Representatives are considering impeaching the head of the IRS, John Koskinen:

June, for conservatives, has been of late the “cruelest month” at the Supreme Court, as the decisions finally roll forth. Many expect—with a combination of apprehension and resignation—that in the critical case of Obergefell v. Hodges, Justice Anthony Kennedy will furnish the fifth vote for…

The Obama administration is funding a provision of the Affordable Care Act unconstitutionally and against the decision of Congress, a Republican House member says. Peter Roskam of Illinois joined Fox News's Greta van Susteren Thursday to talk about the details of his findings in an oversight…

When arguing before the Supreme Court, a lawyer normally takes pains to convince the Justices that ruling in his or her favor in that particular case would not have dramatic consequences elsewhere. In Hobby Lobby, for example, Paul Clement urged that exempting his clients from part of HHS's…

When arguing before the Supreme Court, a lawyer normally takes pains to convince the Justices that ruling in his or her favor in that particular case would not have dramatic consequences elsewhere. In Hobby Lobby, for example, Paul Clement urged that exempting his clients from part of HHS's…

If you tried to contact the IRS with a question about your taxes this year, chances are you didn't get a response. The IRS estimated that it would only answer 17 million of the 49 million calls received this filing season. Taxpayers lucky enough to have the IRS answer their calls waited an average…

The Daily Beast’s Michael Tomasky is celebrating this April 15 by declaring that America is “the most undertaxed advanced country in the world.” He claims that this chart offers proof of his assertion.

In response to this post, several readers have accurately pointed out that a page of the IRS website, posted on March 25, clearly states that, “If you are not required to file a tax return and don’t want to file a return, you do not need to file a return solely to claim this exemption.”

UPDATE: Several readers have accurately pointed out that a page of the IRS website posted on March 25 clearly states that “If you are not required to file a tax return and don’t want to file a return, you do not need to file a return solely to claim this exemption.”

On March 10, Senator Ted Cruz said the following: “On tax -reform, we, right now, have more words in the IRS code than there are in the Bible—not a one of them as good.” It’s no surprise that Republicans in Congress tend to hate taxes and love the Bible, and as Republican rhetoric goes, this is…

A former IRS tax examiner was indicted Friday along with three conspirators for filing false tax returns and making false claims for lost income related to the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The IRS worker, Jimmie McCorvey of Pensacola, FL, helped the other three obtain $95,200 from…

The taxman has stepped in at the eleventh hour to modify a little-known tax law change that is (still) set to impact most businesses across the country.

Confirming a new attorney general is near the top of the new Senate's to-do list. The power not to confirm the president's nominees is near the top of the Republicans' new consignment of political clout. Needless to say, without the White House, the GOP can't implement their preferred policies, but…

Big ideas sometimes play a role in political campaigns, but not in this year’s midterm elections. Republican candidates concentrate on linking their opponents to President Obama and his policies. That’s it. Democrats are understandably wary of defending Obama. They go after Republicans on minor or…

Media coverage of yesterday's latest development in the Lois Lerner saga focused on her colorful description of conservatives as "crazies" and "a--holes" in emails released by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich).

An Ohio-based trade association, the International Association of Information Technology Asset Managers (IAITAM), wants to know why the IRS’s IT Asset Managers have apparently “disappeared at a key juncture.”

IRS lawyers ought to enjoy themselves this holiday weekend because, as the Washington Examiner's Mark Tapscott reports, "they'll be busier than normal next week." IRS counsel will make two separate appearances next week in court to explain and defend the agency's handling of Lois Lerner's…

Were Lois Lerner’s allegedly lost emails actually destroyed? An Ohio-based trade association, the International Association of Information Technology Asset Managers (IAITAM), isn’t so sure, and they don’t find IRS commissioner Koskinen’s explanation of their loss very plausible. 

A press release from Ways and Means Committee chair Dave Camp claims a Republican U.S. senator was targeted by the IRS: 

The WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with senior writer Stephen F. Hayes on the latest news on the IRS scandal.

The IRS comissioner insists his agency did not break the law or relevant statutes. But under questioning by Rep. Trey Gowdy, the IRS commissioner also admitted that he doesn't know the law or the relevant statutes:

Republican congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio excoriated the Internal Revenue Service commissioner Monday night in a House hearing looking into the agency's malfeasance regarding conservative non-profit groups. Jordan focused his questioning to when IRS comissioner John Koskinen knew about the loss of…

The IRS reportedly used a private company to back up emails, a new report claims. The company is called Sonasoft, which boasts, "Email Archiving Done Right."

Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan took IRS commissioner John Koskinen to task over the agency's claim that hundreds of emails sent by IRS officials were lost. The emails were requested in an investigation into the IRS's improper treatment of conservative tax-exempt groups in the run-up to the 2012…

Vox.com, the fancy new journalism "explainer" website founded by Ezra Klein, is up with a fresh take on the IRS scandal: "The IRS scandal shows the IRS needs a bigger budget." 

The results of a Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) audit released Tuesday found that "[w]hile the IRS is complying with GSA requirements to recycle or donate used information technology (IT) equipment, TIGTA found several areas for improvement." The IRS got rid of more than…

The House of Representatives voted to hold former IRS official Lois Lerner in contempt on Wednesday, with every Republican and six Democrats supporting the resolution. The measure passed 231 to 187, without a single Republican voting against it. The six Democrats who voted with the GOP are Ron…

In an interview last night on Megyn Kelly, House speaker John Boehner talked tough about investigating the IRS:

The WEEKLY STANDARD podcast, with senior writer Stephen F. Hayes on the IRS Scandal, Lois Lerner, and why the press won't get serious about it.

Darrell Issa asked Lois Lerner a serier of devastating questions about her involvment in the IRS's targeting of conservatives. 

Writing at the Wall Street Journal, Kim Strassel points out that the IRS targeting of conservative groups has only gotten worse:

New IRS commissioner John Koskinen is beginning his tenure with some blunt words: If you need IRS help on the telephone, be prepared to wait -- a long time.  The IRS posted a YouTube video of the commissioner's message to taxpayers as the pace of the 2014 filing season picks up.  The commissioner…

The Scrapbook’s attention was drawn last week to a front-page story in the New York Times about a small organization, based in Los Angeles, that is applying for tax-exempt status with the Internal Revenue Service. Called the Friends of Abe, it is a loose association of about 1,500 “players in the…

The Internal Revenue Service is conducting a pilot program allowing IRS employees to use personal smart phones to access government email accounts and other work related information.  The program is known as Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration…

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) reported last week that in 2011, the IRS paid out $3.6 billion in fraudulent refunds on tax returns filed by identity thieves.  Even that amount was an improvement over the previous year when the total fraud was $5.2 billion.  However,…

A report issued in September and released this week by the IRS's Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) found continuing problems with the agency's Volunteer Program, which provides free tax preparation and electronic filing for "low- and moderate-income, elderly, disabled, and…

A new audit by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released on October 24 found that while the IRS has improved the timeliness of scanning taxpayer correspondence into its Correspondence Imaging System (CIS) since a previous audit six years ago, the accuracy rate has apparently declined…

Despite a law passed 15 years ago, some Internal Revenue Service employees continue to use the designation "Illegal Tax Protester" and other similar designations in their case narratives, according to an audit just released by TIGTA (Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration). While the IRS…

During his speech on the economy last month in Galesburg, Illinois, Barack Obama suggested Washington should stop focusing on an “endless parade of distractions and political posturing and phony scandals.” He repeated the line about “phony scandals” in another speech on July 25 and in his weekly…

Lately, the Obama administration has taken to referring to "phony scandals" that have distracted Washington from the important issues--namely, the White House's domestic agenda. But a new poll from Fox News shows that the majority of Americans believe each of the four of the administration's…

Last Friday, I critiqued a piece by Dartmouth political scientist Brendan Nyhan for inaccurately summarizing the media coverage of the IRS scandal. I encourage you to read both pieces, but in a nutshell Nyhan was arguing that the media had failed to report on new developments since the scandal…

Over at the Columbia Journalism Review, political scientist Brendan Nyhan has a piece dismissing the IRS scandal out-of-hand and gently scolding the media for for acting irresponsibly in their coverage. You get the thrust in the first two paragraphs:

IRS chief Daniel Werfel says he wants to keep his health care plan, not switch to Obamacare:

The WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with senior writer Stephen F. Hayes on the de-fund vs. delay Obamacare debate, the so-called 'phony' scandals that aren't going away, and the Chris Christie/Rand Paul schoolyard brawl.

The WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with executive editor Fred Barnes on President Obama's second term plans and how the GOP should respond.

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew refused to say on national TV this morning whether the politically appointed counsel of the IRS, William Wilkins, has been asked about his participation in the federal agency's scandal:

The WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with senior writer Stephen F. Hayes on today's investigative hearings on the IRS scandal.

As witnesses have testified to the House Ways and Means Committee, the chief counsel for the Internal Revenue Service may have played a role in the IRS’s practice of reserving special scrutiny for Tea Party and other conservative political groups. William Wilkins, chief counsel and one of two…

Career IRS employees have testified on Capitol Hill that the federal agency's chief counsel played a part in the scandal of targeting conseratives, the House Ways and Means Committee announced today in a press release. As a result, House Ways and Means Committee chair Dave Camp, House Oversight and…

The top Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Rep. Elijah Cummings, sent a letter to the top Republican on that committee, Darrell Issa, targeting the man who uncovered the IRS scandal, Inspector General Russell George. Cummings wants to bring George back to testify in…

The House of Representatives will take up a bill that would stop the Department of the Treasury, including the Internal Revenue Services, from implementing and enforcing the provisions of Obamacare. The bill, authored by Georgia Republican Tom Price and co-sponsored by 114 other House members, is…

The Chicago Tribune editorializes:

In a mid-year report to Congress, National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson weighed in on the controversy surrounding the IRS's review of exempt organization (EO) applications. The Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) "is an independent organization within the IRS and helps taxpayers resolve problems…

Democrat Rep. Jim McDermott says the IRS should continue to use "BOLO lists," the Be On the Look Out lists that had agency officials targeting conservatives:

The IRS commissioner said today at a Capitol Hill hearing that the IRS's internal review doesn't contradict the inspector general's report that says progressives weren't targeted by the federal agency:

Refuting Democratic suggestions that progressive groups were also swept up in the IRS probe of the tax status of Tea Party organizations, the Treasury Department's inspector general has revealed that just six progressive groups were targeted compared to 292 conservative groups.

Politics can seem frustratingly complex. It can be a challenge to grasp that the targeting of conservatives by Internal Revenue Service officials over the last few years constitutes a genuine scandal, while the lawful activities of employees of the National Security Agency do not. It can be a…

With so many scandals swirling around the Obama administration, it is hard to identify which is the most politically damaging for the president. But there’s no doubt which one should trouble constitutionalists the most. The Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative groups raises core…

Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell will say today that the IRS is "thumbing its nose at the American people." He'll make those remarks this morning at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C.

On August 1, the one-year “safe harbor” for religious charities objecting to provisions of Obamacare will end. Starting then, these nonprofit employers will be forced to violate their religious beliefs or pay large fines. In charge of collecting the fines will be our recently newsworthy friends at…

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with editor William Kristol on the NSA's surveillance programs, the IRS scandal, and immigration reform.

Democratic congressman Elijah Cummings says the case of the IRS scandal has been "solved."

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with editor William Kristol 

From a congressional hearing today:

The Wall Street Journal reports

Congressman Jim McDermott, a Democrat,  said that the groups targeted by the IRS had it coming since they filed paperwork seeking a special tax status with the federal government:

Democratic congressman Jose Serrano made the case that the IRS needs more to prevent the federal agency from more scandals:

Talking about the IRS affair on television, former White House senior advisor, David Plouffe, passed it off as the work of a few employees who "did a dumb thing."

Of all the scandals in his administration that President Obama knows nothing about, the one Americans find most appalling is the decision by the Internal Revenue Service to target the president’s political adversaries. What’s more, as subsequent congressional testimony has made clear, the IRS isn’t…

Tax collection may be a necessary evil, but the IRS has been working hard to emphasize the latter over the former. And this applies to conduct beyond the current scandal over political targeting. 

"We provided horrible customer service,” outgoing acting commissioner of the IRS Steven Miller told the House Ways and Means Committee on May 17, referring to evidence that his agency had targeted Tea Party groups for special scrutiny in determining tax-exempt status. The passing remark, which so…

The news of the Internal Revenue Service targeting Tea Party groups has Americans spooked. We’re supposed to be a republic, in which everyone is treated equally. So how is it that the federal government has abused so egregiously its taxing power, one of the most potent tools at its disposal?

On May 21, liberal columnists Jonathan Capehart and Ezra Klein of the Washington Post and Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo were seen heading into the West Wing for a meeting. Just a few hours earlier, it had been reported that Lois Lerner, the bureaucrat at the center of the IRS scandal, would…

This morning on Face the Nation, Bob Woodward weighed in on the Obama scandals:

Valerie Jarrett, a top adviser to President Barack Obama, says she and the rest of the White House remain "very upbeat" despite the series of scandals that have engulfed the Obama administration in recent weeks.

An important Washington Free Beacon report:

In August 2010, Austan Goolsbee, serving at the time as economic adviser to President Obama, told reporters during an anonymous background briefing that Koch Industries doesn't pay corporate income taxes. That statement was made at the same time that top Democrats, including President…

White House spokesman Jay Carney said today that the White House is satisfied with the responsiveness of the IRS in face of the growing scandal:

Bernie Becker and Kevin Bogardus write in The Hill that, according to “two top tax writers on Capitol Hill ... the case for tax reform has been strengthened by the recent revelations about Apple’s tax tactics and the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative groups.”

Today, President Obama personally became re-involved in his former campaign organization's new incarnation Organizing for Action.  On the same day he is scheduled to appear at two DCCC fundraisers in Chicago, the president of the United States sent the following email to OFA's mailing list, signed…

A collection of letters shows high-level officials in the IRS signed off on requests for additional information from conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status. As NBC News reports, at least one letter sent to a conservative group has the signature of Lois Lerner, the suspended IRS official…

The Washington Examiner reports that the IRS chief visited the White House more than once a week under President Obama, after having visited less than once a year under President Bush. The IRS chief came to the White House a reported 118 times from 2010 to 2011 under Obama, compared to only once…

Kimberley Strassel, writing for the Wall Street Journal:

Senators Carl Levin and John McCain have written a letter calling for IRS employee Lois Lerner to be removed from office:

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with executive editor Fred Barnes on the growing IRS scandal.

Senator Mitch McConnell said Harry Reid is bringing the "culture of intimidation that we've seen at the IRS" to the Senate: 

The Internal Revenue Service has come under heavy criticism from both Republicans and Democrats in recent days after an inspector general's report detailed "inappropriate criteria" used to identify certain applications of mainly conservative organizations for special review resulting in long delays…

Bill Kristol, with Mara Liasson and Charles Krauthammer, last night on Fox News:

Congressional hearings over the last two weeks have been filled with stories of misconduct due to incompetence and inexperience among certain IRS employees. Both Republicans and Democrats have leveled the accusations, and Internal Revenue officials testifying before Congress have admitted as much.…

Democratic congressman Stephen Lynch says "there will be hell to pay" if IRS doesn't fully cooperate with Congress, and suggests he might support a "special prosecutor": 

The Democratic ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, Elijah Cummings, said that today's IRS hearing "is more important than one election":

IRS official Lois Lerner said at hearing today, "I have not done anything wrong."

J. Russell George, the inspector general who uncovered the IRS scandal, appears to have at one time dated Michelle Obama, well before she was married to Barack Obama.

After the IRS revealed it had wrongly targeted hundreds of conservative and Tea Party groups, the agency claimed that the misconduct was limited to "low-level employees" in its Cincinnati office. Yesterday, the attorney for Lois Lerner, the head of the IRS’s tax-exempt organizations division, told…

During Tuesday’s hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D., Calif.) declared that failing to encourage people to sign up for government-mandated health insurance is downright “un-American.”  Speier was referring to Congress’s refusal to fund…

Texas senator John Cornyn asked former IRS chief Douglas Shulman to apologize to his constituents for the IRS's wrongdoings. Shulman refused. Here's the exchange:

The inspector general who filed the report on the IRS targeting conservatives and former IRS commissioner agree: The law is relevant. The statements were made at a hearing today on Capitol Hill:

President Barack Obama's former chief of staff, Jack Lew, the current treasury secretary, said today at a Capitol Hill hearing that he was aware "questions had been raised" about the IRS when he was at the White House:

Testifying today on Capitol Hill, Douglas Shulman, the former IRS commissioner, says he "can't say" how the targeting of conservatives by the agency he once led happened: 

Texas senator John Cornyn has released this video, titled "A Culture of Intimidation," about the IRS's targeting of conservatives in his home state and across the nation:

The thoughtful Carl Cannon has written a piece, "Richard Milhous Obama," concluding that our current president has more in common with our 37th than President Obama's partisans would like to acknowledge. The estimable Victor Davis Hanson has weighed in, defending against liberal dissents the…

Perhaps no other IRS official is more intimately associated with the tax agency's growing scandal than Lois Lerner, director of the IRS’s Exempt Organizations Division. Since admitting the IRS harassed hundreds of conservative and Tea Party groups for over two years, Lerner has been criticized for…

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with senior writer Mark Hemingway on his editorial about the burgeoning IRS scandal and the media's coverage of it.

A reporter confirmed with Jay Carney, today at the press briefing, that President Obama met with his chief of staff and the treasury secretary many times over the last month and that neither official told the president of the IRS scandal:

White House spokesman Jay Carney says no one is more outraged at the IRS scandal than President Obama:

White House spokesman Jay Carney says that the president's counsel and chief of staff knew about the investigation into the IRS's targeting of conservative group. But, Carney says, they didn't see it fit to tell President Obama about the investigation. 

A new poll from CNN demonstrates that Americans say the continuing investigations into two scandals that have arisen in the last week are important.

Obama aide Dan Pfeiffer was asked on TV this morning whether he thinks the IRS actions violated the law:

Most Americans say that the issues being raised by congressional hearings into the Benghazi terrorist attacks and the revelations that the IRS unfairly targeted conservative groups "involve serious matters that need to be investigated." According to a new poll from Gallup, 69 percent of those…

Among the questions the Internal Revenue Service asked an pro-life conservative group in Iowa: What do you pray about? Chris Moody at Yahoo! News has the story:

In his prepared remarks on the IRS’s targeting of his political opponents, President Obama said that “we’re going to hold the responsible parties accountable,” but only once we determine “who is responsible.”  In today’s Wall Street Journal, Kim Strassel offers some helpful thoughts on determining…

IRS commissioner Steven Miller said the IRS's targeting of conservatives "is absolutely not illegal":

Under questioning, IRS commissioner Steven Miller admitted the IRS planned when it would reveal that it wrongly targeted conservative groups:

At a Capitol Hill hearing, IRS commissioner Steven Miller clarifed his position: "I never said I didn't do anything wrong."

NBC's Lisa Myers reported this morning that the IRS  deliberately chose not to reveal that it had wrongly targeted conservative groups until after the 2012 presidential election:

Since the IRS admitted it improperly targeted conservative and Tea Party groups last Friday, journalists have worked tirelessly to expose the full extent of the growing scandal.

Treasury secretary Jack Lew asked Steven Miller, the acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, to resign his post in response to the reports that the IRS had unfairly singled out conservative non-profit groups for close scrutiny. Miller has resigned, President Barack Obama said in a…

It's a truism that no president makes it through a second term without some scandal. President Obama is no exception.

When the IRS went fishing for information from those Tea Party groups, it cast a very wide net.  

NBC's David Gregory suggested that the White House is blaming the growing IRS scandal on the Treasury Department for not "deal[ing] with this more quickly":

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with executive editor Fred Barnes on the IRS targeting of tea party groups.

Spokesman Jay Carney said some at the White House "were aware" of reports that IRS was targeting conservatives, but that nobody bothered to do anything about it:

From today's press briefing:

Richard Rubin at Bloomberg poses the following head scratcher:

Seems K Street and Max Baucus were looking forward to a fun year of fixing up the tax code and making it stand up and salute. But now the IRS has gone and muddied the waters.  As Erik Wasson and Peter Schroeder write at The Hill:

In a couple minutes, the top Republican in the Senate will say that "we’ve only started to scratch the surface of this scandal." Mitch McConnell will say those words in reference to the IRS-targeting-conservatives scandal, and will make those remarks on the Senate floor.

Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal and Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, both Republicans, have written a letter President Obama saying the IRS scandal "is big brother come to life."

Today's Boston Herald wood:[img nocaption float="center" width="606" height="640" render="<%photoRenderType%>"]21063[/img]:

The White House counsel apparently heard about the IRS scandal in April, according to Jay Carney:

Democratic senator Joe Manchin calls the IRS's activities "unacceptable and un-American."

On that IRS business, Jonathan Capehart of the Washington Post insists that President Obama:

Not front page material in the Grey Lady's news judgment.  But good enough for page A-11.  With the third paragraph reassuring readers that an agency spokesperson had insisted 

White House spokesman Jay Carney said, in response to a question about the I.R.S. targeting conservative groups, that the I.R.S. is run by a George W. Bush political appointee:

Washington is buzzing about the expose this morning by ABC News' Jonathan Karl showing that the White House's Benghazi talking points underwent 12 different revisions and were scrubbed of references to terrorism. The report builds on and confirms the reporting by The Weekly Standard's Stephen…

Obama for America continued its metamorphosis this week into Organizing for Action (OFA), an independent organization that will advocate for various "progressive" causes, including immigration reform and gun control. The BarackObama.com website, home of the presidential campaign of Barack Obama,…

When the I.R.S. and New York Times effect a merger, beware: truth suffers. On Saturday we were treated to this headline, strapped across the top of page one of the business section of our newspaper of record, “In Superrich, Clues to What Might Be in Romney’s Return.” Note: This is a news story, not…

Because conservatives are scrooges, the good folks at Americans for Tax Reform have gone through the fine print to find out what our Olympians will have to cough up to the IRS should they be lucky enough to win any medals in London.

A new report from the Treasury Department says that Obamacare “represents the largest set of tax law changes in more than 20 years and affects millions of taxpayers.” As the report notes, Obamacare’s “new taxes, fees, and penalties account for approximately $438 billion.” But, really, it’s even…

The National Organization for Marriage (NOM), a pro-traditional marriage organization, alleges that confidential tax forms were either leaked or stolen from the IRS and illegally distributed by its opponents to the media. 

The Hill reports: 

Jeff Jacoby, surely speaking for many, in today's Boston Globe column on the "uncivil income tax system":

Tomorrow, the Institute for Justice (IJ) will file a lawsuit against perhaps the most hated of all federal agencies—the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The Richmond Tea Party group is blasting the IRS for allegedly failing to grant tax exempt status to the pro-limited government organization. “The Internal Revenue Service has served Richmond Tea Party (RTP) with unreasonable requests to obtain a tax-exempt status, fitting the pattern of the…

Nearly 100,000 public charter school teachers are in danger of losing already earned pension benefits if a proposed IRS rule goes into effect this June. The public comment period on the regulation ends today, with no word from the agency regarding its decision.

New York Times: "Hopes Dwindling for Compromise in Budget Talks"

Yesterday, Facebook founder and billionaire Mark Zuckerberg told the president he was "cool" with higher taxes. In fact, a number of prominent wealthy liberals have been agitating for tax increases. There's even a group called "Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength"  that are pushing the…

"Mean streak: Obama is not as nice as he looks"

"U.S., allies see Libyan rebels in hopeless disarray"

The Wall Street Journal writes: 

Z Street, the pro-Israel group that alleges the IRS has prevented it from gaining tax exempt status because its policy toward Israel is antithetical to the administration's, now says that the IRS is changing its tune. Instead, Z Street is being excluded because of a "a Terrorism Special Policy, and…

THE WEEKLY STANDARD first reported on the continued legal battle between the IRS and the pro-Israel group Z Street earlier this week. Now Ben Smith at Politico picks up on the story:

As THE WEEKLY STANDARD reported in August, pro-Israel group Z Street believes it was discriminated against after "Z Street was told by an IRS agent that it might not be granted 501(c)(3) status, which would allow the group to be tax exempt, because its position toward Israel differs from the Obama…

In a lawsuit filed in federal court today, the pro-Israel group Z Street alleges that it has been discriminated against. Z Street says, in its complaint, that was "informed explicitly by an IRS Agent on July 19, 2010, that approval of Z STREET’s application for tax-exempt status has been at least…