Former IRS Chief: Dem Sen. Carl Levin Made Us Target Tea Party Groups

From the Wall Street Journal:

FORMER IRS CHIEF: DEMOCRATIC SENATOR MADE US DO IT  

A Journal editorial yesterday noted the Obama argument that new IRS rules are intended to fix “confusion” in the law surrounding non-profit groups like the Tea Party organizations that have been targeted by the tax agency. 

But in a letter this week to new IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, Reps. Darrell Issa and Jim Jordan show that the new rule-making was politically motivated from its inception. 

In an interview with House investigators, former IRS Acting Commissioner Steve Miller was asked what the problem was in the law that needed to be fixed. He responded, “So I’m not sure there was a problem, right? I mean, I think we were —we had, you know, Mr. Levin complaining bitterly to us—Senator Levin complaining bitterly about our regulation…” 

Carl Levin, the Michigan Democrat, is among the most partisan Members of the U.S. Senate. The letter also details evidence that IRS and Treasury officials believed that the Supreme Court had erred in its Citizens United decision and, instead of respecting the authority of the Court, wrongly took it upon themselves to offset the impact of the law with IRS regulation.