Republican lawmakers are seeking an explanation from the IRS on allegations the agency has been harassing the Green Party. Rep. Tom McClintock (R-California), along with more than 60 Republicans from the House of Representatives, sent a letter to IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman expressing their concerns that the IRS routinely discriminates against Tea Party groups and at the same time they also want to find out the reasons the IRS has yet to approve the tax-exempt status of the NORCAL Tea Party Patriots.
According to McClintock, one of the ways the IRS discriminates against the Green Party is to demand that the party produce complete records of every oral statement ever provided by any member of the NORCAL Tea Party Patriots, transcripts of the group's meetings for the past two years and "excessively long questionnaires all to be returned within unreasonably short time periods."
In their letter to Commissioner Shulman, McClintock said, “These demands go well beyond good-faith due diligence and appear designed to be logistically and financially impossible to comply with. We request that you provide a response demonstrating how these recent requests by the IRS are consistent with precedent and supported by law. We further request that the IRS refrain from any additional unwarranted and excessive information demands and other dilatory tactics."
In a speech at the House of Representatives, McClintock made claims that the Obama Administration is using the IRS to silence views of opposing political parties. He said, “This administration is very clearly, very pointedly and very deliberately attempting to intimidate, harass and threaten civic-minded groups with which they disagree, using one of the most feared and powerful agencies in the United States government to do so.”
The Republican co-signors of the letter said, “Such practices chill these groups’ constitutionally guaranteed rights to civic participation, freedom of association and free speech and are better left to despotic regimes than a revenue-collection agency in a free country.”
The IRS made no comments on this matter, simply responding in a statement that “By law, the IRS cannot discuss any specific taxpayer situation or case."
