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                     US Tax Chief: 'Foolish Mistakes' Made

   by VOA News

   The chief of the U.S. tax agency says that "foolish mistakes" were made
   in the targeting of politically active conservative groups opposed to
   President Barack Obama's tax and spending policies for special
   scrutiny.

   Steven Miller, the man President Barack Obama ousted this week as the
   acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), told a
   congressional panel Friday that "partisanship, or even the perception
   of partisanship, has no place" at the agency.

   He apologized for the IRS's role in its extensive investigations of the
   conservative groups, which encountered lengthy delays as they sought
   tax-exempt status over the last three years. But Miller said he did not
   think that political partisanship motivated the targeting of the
   right-wing groups.

   "I think that what happened here was that foolish mistakes were made by
   people trying to be more efficient in their workload selection," he
   said. "The listing described in [an investigative] report, while
   intolerable, was a mistake and not massive partisanship."

   The IRS aimed its investigations at groups that had "Tea Party,"
   "patriot" and other key words in their names, asking them for extensive
   information about their activities, donors and reading lists. Most "Tea
   Party" groups in the U.S. have been vocal in their opposition to an
   expanded role of government in general, and Obama's policies in
   particular. In the same way, "patriot" in a social group's name often
   signals a similar political orientation.

   Miller and Russell George, a government inspector general whose report
   this week blamed lax management in Washington for allowing a field
   office to focus on the conservative groups, testified before a House of
   Representatives committee.  It is the first of several panels planning
   hearings on the IRS operations.

   Obama said Thursday he is outraged by the IRS action and vowed to work
   with Congress to reform the agency.

   "I'm outraged by this, in part because, look, I'm a public figure," he
   said. "If a future administration is starting to use the tax laws to
   favor one party over another, or one political view over another,
   obviously, we're all vulnerable."

   Republicans who oppose Obama, a Democrat in the early months of a
   second term at the White House, have vowed to pursue a wide
   investigation into the IRS actions. At Friday's hearing, they claimed
   agency officials lied to them in recent months when they denied that
   conservative groups were being targeted.

   Many of the president's political opponents say they are skeptical of
   claims that key officials in Washington were not aware of the scrutiny
   aimed at the conservative groups, and that the activity was confined to
   a branch office in Cincinnati, Ohio.

   Obama, saying the IRS needed new leadership, demanded the resignation
   of Miller, and he will be leaving office in the coming weeks. The
   president appointed a White House budget official, Daniel Werfel, as
   the interim IRS chief through the end of September.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/us-tax-chief-says-mistakes-made-in-ke
   yword-targeting-of-political-organizations/1663042.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/us-tax-chief-says-mistakes-made-in-keyword-targeting-of-political-organizations/1663042.html