IRS Targeting Scandal, A Lesson In The Tyranny Of Big Government
During the years of the Obama Administration, perhaps the most evident, contemporary example of institutional targeting of political enemies came to light and the tyranny of big government once again
A perhaps unique element of American politics is the hostility of Americans to their own government. The ‘Don’t Tread On Me’ mantra is a central part of many American’s political philosophies. Time and time again, big government has shown its propensity to overreach and encroach upon the fundamental liberties of the people. Furthermore, there is a worrying trend throughout American history of the institutions of the State being turned against the people. J Edgar Hoover, the first Director of the FBI, infamously turned the intelligence apparatus of the status upon the people of the United States, particularly those he disagreed with. President Richard Nixon sought to weaponize the IRS against his political rivals, but the IRS revolted against this request. The list goes on. However, that dark streak in American politics of big government tyranny and targeting of the people has not gone away. Indeed, this tried and tested tactic of deploying the State against the people is a bipartisan tradition - if it can be called that, and still occurs to this very day.
During the years of the Obama Administration, perhaps the most evident, contemporary example of institutional targeting of political enemies came to light and the tyranny of big government once again affirmed.
The Tea Party movement in the United States was a fiscally-conservative, grassroots movement within the Republican party which came to prominence from 2009 onwards, in response to the fiscal policies of then-President Obama. The movement proved to be a political juggernaut, and was responsible for the swift crippling of the Obama Administration when the GOP took back Congress and the Senate. Arguably, without the impact of the Tea Party, there mightn’t have been a President Trump.
In 2013, it was revealed that the IRS had targeted groups applying for tax exemptions on the basis of their ideology.1 Groups that included words such as ‘Tea Party’, ‘Israel’ and Patriots in their name were targeted, as well as groups which opposed Obamacare, were concerned about the National Debt, or advocated for better education about the Constitution and Bill of Rights. The IRS placed a hold on applications for tax exemptions by groups with these words in their name, from April 2010 to April 2012. There was no justification offered for this action, but it’s application only to groups of certain political persuasion was immediately apparent.
For example, one conservative organization Media Trackers saw its application for tax-exempt status not receive a response for 16 months. After 16 months, the organization submitted a concurrent application under a ‘liberal sounding name’ (Greenhouse Solutions) with their application being processed and approved within 3 weeks.2 This case is simply one example of the weaponization of the IRS against “political enemies” of the Obama Administration.
However, the IRS Targeting was not solely confined to simply delaying the processing of applications. It went much further. The IRS exploited and abused sensitive information supplied in good faith to the IRS. The extent to which this information was abused remains unknown.
A paragon of this weaponization of such confidential information involves the case of National Organization for Marriage Inc v United States.3 NOM was a conservative organization that sought to defend the biblical definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman. NOM of course had filing obligations with the IRS, which it had discharged. NOM, and indeed all organizations and individuals who provide such information to the IRS, expected their information to be handled with the utmost care and their privacy secured. However, an IRS employee provided a copy of NOM’s 2008 tax returns with their unredacted donor list, to the pro-gay marriage group, the Human Rights Campaign. This private donor information then ended up in the pages of the Huffington Post which showed a $10,000 donation to NOM by a Mitt Romney-affiliated PAC. This information of course was used to attack Mitt Romney’s campaign, notwithstanding the illegal way the information was procured.
The Fourth Circuit Court which heard the case ordered the IRS to pay $50,000 in compensation for breach of confidentiality but ruled, wrongly in this author’s opinion, that the leak had been a mistake and that there was insufficient evidence that the leak was willful. Leaking of confidential donor data of a pro-traditional marriage organization to a pro-same sex marriage organization which is then published in a liberal newspaper to attack a conservative political candidate, was not willful - but a mistake in the eyes of the Court. Res Ipsa Loquitur anyone?
The IRS also used this opportunity to amass information regarding political activities, social media, and writings of conservative groups.4 Tea party groups were asked for their donor rolls and for comprehensive details regarding their use of donations. Other conservative groups were asked for minutes of meetings, members resumes, training materials and a copy of all social media activity.5 The IRS explicitly asked organizations about any and all connections to the Koch Foundation, and even what members of these organizations were reading.6 A pro-life organization was questioned on the content of public prayer held by the group outside Planned Parenthood.7 None of this is coincidental, a top IRS official at the time admitted the IRS targeted conservative groups for special mistreatment (this same official also having publicly called conservatives “crazies”).8 Subsequent documents acquired by Judicial Watch showed that the IRS offered to expedite applications for tax exemptions if political activities were curbed.9
The IRS systematically targeted, pressured and attempted to bribe conservative groups which were politically opposed to the policies of the Obama Administration. This, in my opinion, lay the foundations for the Obama Administration’s spying on the Presidential Campaign of then-Candidate Donald Trump in 201610 and may well be being replicated by the NSA in “allegedly” spying on Tucker Carlson today.
The 2013 Report of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration made for damning reading, which confirmed the IRS improper targeting of conservative organizations:
“The IRS used inappropriate criteria that identified for review Tea Party and other organizations applying for tax-exempt status based upon their names or policy positions instead of indications of potential political campaign intervention. Ineffective management:
1) allowed inappropriate criteria to be developed and stay in place for more than 18 months, 2) resulted in substantial delays in processing certain applications, and 3) allowed unnecessary information requests to be issued. Although the processing of some applications with potential significant political campaign intervention was started soon after receipt, no work was completed on the majority of these applications for 13 months.... For the 296 total political campaign intervention applications [reviewed in the audit] as of December 17, 2012, 108 had been approved, 28 were withdrawn by the applicant, none had been denied, and 160 were open from 206 to 1,138 calendar days (some for more than three years and crossing two election cycles).... Many organizations received requests for additional information from the IRS that included unnecessary, burdensome questions (e.g., lists of past and future donors).”11
Following on from this former Attorney General Jeff Sessions settled two cases with 469 plaintiffs representing conservative organizations wrongfully targeted by the IRS. 12 AG Sessions comments at the time were particularly apt: “Chief Justice John Marshall wrote 'that the power to tax involves the power to destroy … [is] not to be denied.' And it should also be without question that our First Amendment prohibits the federal government from treating groups differently based solely on their viewpoint or ideology. But it is now clear that during the last Administration, the IRS began using inappropriate criteria to screen applications for 501(c) status.”13
It really is quite incredible that when President Nixon demanded the IRS target his political foes, the IRS rightly refused on principle. However, fast forward to the 21st century, the IRS willingly put its powers, resources and authority at the disposal of the Democratic National Committee. In the words of Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), “Richard Nixon’s ghost must have been smiling.”
This is the tyranny of big government, in that if government amasses too much power, that power can be easily abused by the wrong people. However, if government is limited and power derogated to the States and the people, the tyranny is immediately limited. Why do you think the GOP response was to try abolish the IRS? If the role of the IRS was remanded to the States, it would mean targeting could only occur on a state by state basis and couldn’t be federalized. I do not think that the IRS targeting of conservative groups is an isolated incident, rather I think government - particularly the federal government - is vulnerable to weaponization. I am sure in these hyper-partisan times, there is most certainly targeting of political opponents via the wrongful use of the institutions and apparatus of the state. Quite simply then, the corollary response has to be to limit the opportunity and extent to which government can be weaponized. In the words of founding father, Alexander Hamilton, “[i]t is not a tyranny we desire; it’s a limited, federal government.”
TREASURY INSPECTOR GENERAL FOR TAX ADMINISTRATION, Inappropriate Criteria Were Used to Identify Tax-Exempt Applications for Review (May 14, 2013 Reference Number: 2013-10-053) - Treasury IG Report
Chris Moody, Conservative group says IRS approved nonprofit status after applying with ‘liberal-sounding name’ (May 15, 2013) - Yahoo News
National Organization for Marriage Inc v United States (December 2, 2015, No. 14–2363)
David Weigel, Just 55 Questions, Ma’am: How the IRS just handed the Tea Party its biggest victory yet (May 13, 2013) - Slate.com
David Nather, Tarini Parti & Byron Tau, IRS Wants You To Share Everything (May 15, 2013) - Politico.com
David Weigel, Just 55 Questions, Ma’am: How the IRS just handed the Tea Party its biggest victory yet (May 13, 2013) - Slate.com
Chris Moody, IRS asked anti-abortion group about content of public prayers (May 17, 2013) - Yahoo News
Judicial Watch v. IRS (March 2017) documents 00220 - https://www.judicialwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/JW-v.-IRS-March-2017-documents-00220.pdf
Amanda Prestigiacomo, WATCH: AG Barr: ‘I Think Spying Did Occur’ On Trump Campaign By Obama Administration, And It’s ‘A Big Deal’ (April 10, 2019) - Daily Wire
TREASURY INSPECTOR GENERAL FOR TAX ADMINISTRATION, Inappropriate Criteria Were Used to Identify Tax-Exempt Applications for Review (May 14, 2013 Reference Number: 2013-10-053) - Treasury IG Report
Linchpins of Liberty, et al., v. United States of America, et al., (No. 1:13-cv-00777-RBW in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia); NorCal Tea Party Patriots v. Internal Revenue Service, et al., (No. 1:13-cv-00341 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio)
Attorney General Jeff Sessions Announces Department of Justice has Settled with Plaintiff Groups Improperly Targeted by IRS (October 26, 2017) - https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/attorney-general-jeff-sessions-announces-department-justice-has-settled-plaintiff-groups