There are few apologies

The tax service is accused of political engagement

One of the most influential US government agencies - the tax administration - found himself in an unusual role: he has to make excuses. Critics accuse the tax service of acting in the role of a political instrument, trying to complicate the status of non -profit organizations with conservative groups. On Tuesday, a meeting of the Congress Committee on State Revenues, which is investigating the possible involvement of the government in this practice of the tax service.

The beginning of history was made by the report of the report of the chief auditor of the Ministry of Finance. According to this document, since 2010, for a year and a half, the tax service has been very critical of the statements of conservative groups trying to obtain the status of non -profit organizations that give serious tax benefits. According to the auditor, this erroneous practice was resorted to the service in Cincinnati. The tax authorities subjected to particularly biased checks those groups in the names of which were the phrase "batch of tea drinking" and other traditional ones for the conservative movement of the phrase. On Tuesday, at a meeting of the Congress, representatives of these groups told how the tax service treated them.

The president of the Coalition for Life from Iowov, a religious organization opposing abortion, said that she was invited to submit to the tax service the texts of prayers. The head of the organization campaign against same -sex marriages said that they demanded a list of those who financially support the group, and then this list was published on the Internet, despite the fact that such information is confidential. The state tried to intimidate his sponsors, the opponent of same -sex marriages believes.

The expectation of a response to the request for the provision of the status of a non -profit organization often takes years. Formally, such status can be obtained by groups that social projects work, work in the field of culture and art, religious organizations. Political activity cannot be their main occupation. The tax service belongs to the right to determine whether applicants to the status of these criteria meet. And she, according to critics, uses this right as a political instrument, since the liberal groups have not been subjected to anything like that.

“We witnessed the most serious failure in the work of the tax service management, which did not put an end to such practice even after this information was brought to its attention,” the acting head of the service Daniel Verfel said during the hearing. “Such behavior undermined the public faith in the fact that tax laws are applied impartially. And we must defend the situation.”

An apology and promises did not satisfy the legislators who hold the fifth in three with a small week, trying to establish whether it was, so to speak, a local initiative or high -ranking government officials are related to it. The dramatic of history is given by the fact that the head of the department of non -profit organizations of the tax administration refused to answer questions during the hearing in Congress, referring to the constitutional right not to testify, which may subsequently be used against it. The tax service remains silent about who gave the instructions to subject conservative groups to a special verification. A lot of questions are addressed to the White House. It turned out, for example, that the head of the tax service, appointed by President Obama, was, unlike his predecessors, a very frequent guest in the main mansion of the country. The White House spokesman assures that the president did not know anything about the practice of tax authorities until the appearance of reports about this in the press.

The legendary journalist Bob Woodword, who made a name in the investigation of the Watergate scandal, ended with the resignation of President Nixon, was involved in the debate. “The bets in this story are high. In my opinion, the most important thing, it undermines the confidence of the Americans to the White House,” says Woodword. “And we know that it is already not too large, and not only from the conservative part of society. Many people ask the question: what is happening? I think that Barack Obama should take the initiative and give exhausting answers. If he decides that in the interests of his administration there will be an attempt to hide some kind of attempt to hide some kind Information, documents in the hope that interest in this story will dissipate on its own, the president will make a big mistake, in the end, he will be trapped. "

On Tuesday, the tax department became the hero of another noisy story. In the new report of the chief auditor of the Ministry of Finance, the Department is criticized for multimillion -dollar expenses for organizing various conferences, during which his leadership stopped in the presidential apartments of the best hotels, the speaking, the generous fees were paid for short performances, all participants received gifts. The head of the service called this practice a relic of the past. Now, according to him, the expenses of conferences are limited to half a million dollars.