[EL] IRS Enters Consent Decree with, Apologizes to, True the Vote

[John Pomeranz]

In answer to Rick’s question, yes, of course the Obama-era IRS would have agreed to a consent order like this.  Indeed, it essentially did so on the day the IRS scandal first broke on May 10, 2013, when Lois Lerner acknowledged that groups had been improperly targeted for heightened scrutiny and inordinate delays in IRS review of the organizations’ tax-exemption applications, and thereafter when the IRS took steps to address those problems in response to the first TIGTA report that quickly followed that acknowledgement.  (All of which is reported in the stipulated facts in this consent decree.)

However, people couldn’t take yes for an answer.  True the Vote and other the groups that were victims of this IRS misconduct decided to seek damages from the IRS and from individual IRS employees, an effort that has been entirely unsuccessful.  And certain members of Congress spent an awful lot of time and money seeking evidence of misconduct beyond what has been revealed by the IRS and TIGTA, a mostly fruitless exercise.

The most interesting thing in this consent decree concerns TIGTA’s call for guidance on what organizations qualify for exemption under section 501(c)(4), an effort that the IRS and Treasury undertook but that was then blocked by congressional action.  The consent decree’s stipulated facts agreed to by the parties to this suit include this quote from TIGTA about such guidance:

"[u]ntil this guidance is finalized , the IRS does not have a clearly defined test for determining whether an organization's request for exemption as a social welfare organization should be approved. As a result, for those applicants not choosing the optional expedited process, the IRS continues to use a subjective facts and circumstances process."

It is a mystery to me why those so quick to criticize the IRS for its misconduct remain unwilling to allow the Treasury Department, with a Trump-appointed Secretary, Assistant Secretary of Tax Policy, and (soon apparently) IRS Commissioner, return to this guidance project so desperately needed to prevent future abuse of applicants for tax-exempt status.



John Pomeranz
Harmon, Curran, Spielberg & Eisenberg, LLP
1725 DeSales Street, NW, Suite 500
Washington, DC  20036
p: 202.328.3500
f: 202.328.6918
e: jpomeranz at harmoncurran.com






IRS Enters Consent Decree with, Apologizes to, True the Vote for Lois Lerner Controversy<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97077>
Posted on January 24, 2018 7:40 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97077> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

I wonder if the Obama-led IRS would have agreed to this.<https://www.scribd.com/document/369806983/True-the-Vote-v-IRS-Consent-Order-Jan-21-2018>
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Posted in tax law and election law<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=22>
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