Monday, May 13, 2013

Rep. Vern Buchanan demands IRS account for 'gross abuse of power'

U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Sarasota, is demanding answers from Treasury Secretary Jack Lew about who is responsible for the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of organizations "whose politics are at odds with the administration."

"The American people demand and deserve a full-accounting from top to bottom of those responsible for this gross abuse of power and what action is being taken to restore the public trust," Buchanan wrote in the letter, dated Monday.

Buchanan continues, in part:
On March 22, 2012, as a member of the House Ways and Means Committee which oversees the IRS, we heard then-Commissioner Douglas Shulman clearly state that the IRS did not engage in the practices of which it is now accused saying "there is absolutely no targeting."  Yet, less than a year earlier, Commissioner Shulman's own deputy, Lois Lerner, was made aware that such malpractice had indeed occurred.  It became evident that groups with "tea party" or "patriot" in their names were extremely vulnerable to auditing harassment.  Even nonprofit organizations that sought to educate Americans about the U.S. Constitution were unfairly singled out for scrutiny. 
The nation's trust in government was betrayed by this unconscionable behavior.
On behalf of my constituents, your immediate response is not only warranted but essential to clearing up a matter that would have our founding fathers rolling in their graves. 
Buchanan's criticisms should carry a little extra weight, as he is a member of the House Ways & Means Committee, which has oversight of the IRS.

Read the entire letter here.

3 comments:

  1. Vern, some folks need to lose their jobs ... anyone associated with this and the people in charge (if they didn't know it was going on (doubtful), they should have).

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  2. This isn't abuse of power, it is downright subversion.

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  3. WLYB.......Vern, heads need to roll, shut down the IRS and bring criminal charges against all involved.
    The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.
    Martin Luther King, Jr.

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