WASHINGTON - Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-MI) today made the following statement regarding the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations report on IRS and TIGTA mismanagement:
“This comprehensive report from the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI) details that the IRS mishandled 501c4 applications from both liberal and conservative groups, and provides new information confirming there is no evidence of political bias on the part of IRS in processing applications for tax exempt social welfare groups.
I said early on that the Treasury Inspector General’s report got this investigation off on the wrong foot by omitting key evidence that progressives were included and evidence that there was no political motivation. It is further troubling to see additional evidence of TIGTA mismanagement of their own investigation.
Republicans have chosen throughout this matter to shut their eyes to all of the facts and continue their wild allegations that serve only to advance their own political objective of appealing to Tea Party groups. I expect the same now, but PSI has done the American people a service by laying out the facts of this case clearly so they can reach their own conclusions.
The IRS exempt organization division badly mishandled the processing of these applications from the inappropriate criteria, the intrusive questions and the long delays. There is no excuse for this gross mismanagement, but Republicans in Congress should be working with Democrats to clarify the law around the social welfare definition instead of blindly making inaccurate claims of conspiracy."
