WASHINGTON - Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-MI) today released additional emails from Internal Revenue Service employees after USA Today published a leaked document that lists 162 organizations whose applications for tax-exempt status were pending before IRS screeners in November 2011. The newly released emails show that the document published by USA Today was put together by Hilary Goehausen, an IRS Tax Law Specialist and a registered Republican, and further illustrate a lack of any political motivation by IRS employees. It was generated by the IRS in an effort to speed up its review of pending applications for social welfare status, including both tea party organizations and progressive groups. Goehausen included her own comments on the spreadsheet next to each organization’s name based on her review of the organization’s application and supplemental materials, including organizations’ web sites in order to speed along review of these cases and assist development specialists who would be asked to complete the processing of the applications.
In addition, Ranking Member Levin has asked the Treasury Inspector General to review the leak of this document as it contained confidential taxpayer information and was included in the production of documents to Congress protected by 6103 authority, which makes it illegal to publicly disclose taxpayer information.
"Republicans continue to try to spin a story that is simply not supported by the facts. Our four-month investigation has brought forward not a single piece of evidence to suggest any political motivation or involvement outside of the IRS," said Ways and Means Ranking Member Sander Levin. “This document was created by a registered Republican when the IRS was seeking to speed up its review process of applicants seeking tax-exempt status. The fact that progressive groups were on the list further illustrates that there was no political motivation in the processing of applications."
BACKGROUND:
* EMAIL: Hilary Goehausen, a Tax Law Specialist, outlines the process she used to prepare the list of pending applications in the IRS inventory to determine which cases can “go favorable," as Goehuesen notes.
* EMAIL: Hilary Goehausen, in explaining her approach to generating the list, notes that would involve a similar approach to the IRS review of “ACA cases," a reference to the Affordable Care Act.
* EMAIL: Holly Paz, Director of Exempt Organizations Rulings and Agreements, explains Hilary Goehausen’s task in preparing the list: “We are tasking Hillary [sic] with … identifying those that clearly are advocacy cases and those that are clearly not."
* EMAIL: Michael Seto, Manager of EO Technical, explains to Hilary Goehausen that her evaluation of the outstanding cases will help the IRS process them: “We want you guys to finish reviewing these cases first so EOD can determine what type of cases they are and how to process them. Your evaluations will help Cindy determine how many people she will need to process these cases."
* TESTIMONY: Hilary Goehausen, the IRS Tax Law Specialist who put together the list of 162 groups, told congressional investigators in a July 2, 2013 interview that she is a registered Republican.
Q: Do you have a party affiliation when you're voting, registration?
A: Yes.
Q: What is your party affiliation?
A: Republican Party.
