The Patriot Post® · Just Mismanagement at the IRS? Hardly.

No “smidgeon of corruption” at the IRS, right? That’s what Barack Obama wants us to believe. But the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance released a report confirming bias and corruption at the agency. Committee chairman Orrin Hatch said, “This bipartisan investigation shows gross mismanagement at the highest levels of the IRS and confirms an unacceptable truth: that the IRS is prone to abuse. The Committee found evidence that the administration’s political agenda guided the IRS’s actions with respect to their treatment of conservative groups. Personal politics of IRS employees, such as Lois Lerner, also impacted how the IRS conducted its business. American taxpayers should expect more from the IRS and deserve an IRS that lives up to its mission statement of administering the tax laws fairly and impartially — regardless of political affiliation.” While Democrat Ron Wyden, the ranking member of the committee, agreed reforms are needed “to ensure this doesn’t happen again,” he attributed the problem to “pure bureaucratic mismanagement without any evidence of political interference.” Wrong. Using the tax system to suppress the speech of certain political groups is not mere “mismanagement,” it’s gross abuse of power for partisan gain. If the IRS had done the same thing but managed it better, perhaps that would suit Wyden just fine. Remember during the Bush administration when “dissent was patriotic”? Those were the good old days.