Former IRS chief: "I can't say" what led to IRS targeting
Updated: 11:54 a.m.
As the investigation continues into potentially discriminatory activities at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), former commissioner Douglas Shulman said Tuesday he was "saddened" that the agency had been judged as having acted in a way that was not "non-political and non-partisan," though he said he couldn't say exactly what happened to lead to the practices now under fire.
"I was dismayed and I was saddened to read the [Treasury Inspector General's] conclusions that actions had been taken creating the appearance that the service was not acting as it should have, that is, as a non-political non-partisan agency," said Shulman, in testimony before Congress. "It does its job in an admirable way the great majority of the time and the men and women of the IRS are hard-working honest public servants."
Public questioning over the controversy began last week, when ousted IRS commissioner Steven Miller and J. Russell George, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), answered questions about an internal policy whereby the IRS targeted for higher, often burdensome scrutiny conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status. Also last week, TIGTA released a report detailing the implementation of these practices by IRS officials, including the creation of a list of terms -- including "tea party" and other conservative buzz words -- on which officials were instructed to focus in their assessments. Republicans have suggested the IRS was acting with political motives, and President Obama announced last week that his administration had requested and accepted Miller's resignation.
Shulman, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush and left his post after his term ended in November of 2012, on Tuesday joined Miller and George in testifying before the Senate Finance Committee. Shulman's statements have been particularly scrutinized because he told Congress in March 2012 that there was "absolutely no targeting" taking place at the IRS.
On Tuesday, Shulman reiterated that, at the time of his testimony, he had not yet learned about the IRS behaviors now under question. He said he had not come forward to correct the record because he only recently become privy to the "full set of facts" surrounding the controversial IRS policy.
"The full set of facts around these circumstances came out last week," he said. "What I knew was not the full set of facts in this report. What I knew sometime in the spring of 2012 was that there was a list that was being used. I knew that the word 'tea party' was on the list."
Shulman said he didn't know what other words were on the list, if liberal groups had been targeted as well, or if the groups that were targeted would have been pulled in for higher scrutiny anyway. Asked how it had been allowed to happen in the first place, he said, "I can't say that I know that answer."
"I'm six months out of office," he said. "When I left, the I.G. was looking into this to gather all of the facts. I've now had the benefit of reading the report and that's, you know, the full accounting of facts that I have at this point. So I don't think I can answer that question."
Miller has been targeted for his own past statements to Congress, particularly in a letter where he declined to mention the agency's practice despite the fact that he knew about it. He has staunchly defended his statements, insisting that he "did not lie," that he answered any questions asked truthfully, and that he generally disagreed with the assessment that conservative groups were being targeted as a result of political motivations within the IRS.
"The concept of political motivation here - I did not agree with that in May, I do not agree with that now," he said Tuesday. "We were not politically motivated in targeting conservative groups."
Shulman and Miller both said they could not say exactly how or why the controversial practices were approved, because they were not involved in the process.
"I agree this is an issue that, when someone spotted it, they should have brought it up the chain. And they didn't," Shulman said. "I don't know why."
Miller emphasized that when he did learn of the practices, he took a series of prompt actions.
"I was aware that TIGTA was working on this, but I took some some intermediate action, pending TIGTA, we transferred and reassigned an individual who had been involved in the letters, and I asked that the person who I believed at the time was responsible for the listing, that oral counseling occur and at that time the listing process," he said.
In testimony before the Senate Banking committee Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew called the IRS practice "unacceptable and inexcusable," and said he has directed the agency's acting director to address existing management flaws and continue to hold agency officials responsible for any wrongdoing.
