Alongside hearings on Benghazi and revelations about the DOJ accessing communications records of reporters, the IRS “abuse of power” scandal is proving to be a wide-ranging and disturbing affair. National Taxpayers Union (NTU) has been responding to the developments in the story, while beginning to offer solutions to the problems driving the practices in question so that this will never happen again…
NTU Executive Vice President Pete Sepp said in reaction to the initial IRS acknowledgement of wrongdoing:
“Make no mistake -- this is not the first time Americans have been treated to the sorry spectacle of a tax agency accused of political bias, nor will it be the last. Unless, of course, politicians are willing to stop posturing and get serious about protecting taxpayers. Whatever type of tax system we may have in the future, it will require constant oversight as well as checks and balances against political manipulation.”
Of course, the scandal continued to develop throughout the week, as it does to the day. The next major domino to tumble was IRS Commissioner Steve Miller, whose resignation was greeted with skepticism from NTU, who questioned whether it would mean anything when it comes to preventing the overreach Miller presided over:
"The pundits are saying the IRS scandal has claimed its first casualty with the resignation of Commissioner Miller; in reality, the casualty list was quite extensive well before his departure.
"The victims include: would-be participants in the democratic process who were targeted with outrageous paperwork burdens, conscientious IRS employees whose time could have been spent more productively serving citizens instead of doing their superiors’ bidding, and, of course, millions of taxpayers whose fear and suspicion of the IRS were considerable in the first place.
"Other things have suffered too, including a decade and a half of progress that reformers inside and outside government have made in restructuring the IRS’s personnel and customer service operations. Also damaged is the agency’s credibility and capability to implement the 2010 health care law. On top of all that, the truth has once again taken a beating from Washington’s scandal-driven defense of deny, minimize, and spin…”
To read the entirety of NTU’s responses to these developments click HERE and HERE.
There is no doubt more action will be required as the scandal continues to be fully investigated. Your National Taxpayers Union will be at the ready.