The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced it will enact a series of reforms in its attempts to stem the controversy that it targeted anti-tax conservative groups for extra scrutiny.
The agency has come under fire after a Treasury Department report found that IRS personnel singled out small Tea Party-aligned conservative groups, as well as a few Democratic-leaning groups, for extra scrutiny when reviewing their applications for tax exemption, delaying their approval for several months.
The groups in question had applied for 501(c)(4) status, which applies to nonprofits promoting "social welfare" through issue advocacy.In response to the scandal, which saw the dismissal of its acting administrator, the IRS has laid out its proposed reforms in an 11,758-page document.
The IRS said in a statement that the new rules will “enable the IRS continue its long and proud tradition of eliciting confusion, fear, hatred and irritation from every American, regardless of his or her political affiliation.”
The most important reforms in the complex document are summarized as follows:
- All organizations that apply for nonprofit 501(c)(4) status will be approved in 3 months or less, regardless if IRS agents have reviewed them or not.
- All organizations that apply for nonprofit 501(c)(4) status shall be treated with an equal lack of investigation and oversight, regardless of the organization’s political affiliation, number of tax attorneys or financial backing.
- To deal with understaffing in the IRS's nonprofit division, reviews of all tax-exempt organizations will be contracted to nonpartisan independent auditors, approved by a Koch Brother or a Koch Brothers-affiliated organization.
- To remove any confusion of what constitutes “social welfare” activities, political campaigns and major political parties will now be viewed as “welfare recipients.”
- In a show of bipartisanship, the next Republican president can skip paying taxes for the first two years of his or her presidency.
The IRS said the new reforms will go into effect by April 15 next year, although political and nonprofit organizations that need additional help understanding the new reforms can apply for a legal extension.
President Barack Obama hailed the reforms as “a necessary and crucial step in restoring the microgram of respect and admiration that the agency commands from the American people.”
“We thank the IRS for its careful diligence in responding to this issue,” Obama said in a statement. “These reforms will enable this country to move forward and continue working for the future, and it will free up time for my administration to handle the two other scandals on our plate.”
However, Republican leaders dismissed the IRS’s new reforms and indicated they will continue to investigate the scandal.
“This is yet another partisan move by the most partisan president in the history of our country to cover up his many failures,” House Speaker John Boehner said. “President Obama is causing us to delay our most important work, such as trying to repeal Obamacare for the 37th time.”
