Report: IRS used donor lists to target taxpayers for audits

The IRS scandal during which the taxing agency targeted conservative organizations for delays, harassment, and outright persecution has confirmed the charge that the IRS is a rogue, lawless, and corrupt organization. This fact was further confirmed by a report released last Friday by Judicial Watch (JW) that shows that the IRS used the donor lists of tax exempt, conservative organizations to decide which citizens it wished to target for audits. In other words, if you donated money to one of these organizations you probably would be audited.

JW indicated that it knew such records existed, but the IRS refused to release them. However, through the Freedom of Information Act JW forced the IRS to release the documents in question. The documents show that the IRS would focus its auditing power toward those who made donations to the tax exempt organizations in question.

In 2010, the Senate Finance Committee Chairman at the time, Max Baucus, D-Mont., wrote to the IRS Commissioner at the time, Douglas Shulman, stating that as a matter of IRS policy the tax exempt groups should be "surveyed." Shulman responded in a letter to Baucus in February of 2011 that within the year the IRS would begin a new program that would focus its efforts on the tax exempt organizations.

JW, however, states that the documents it received last Friday indicate that the new program was already being implemented in 2010, as soon as Shulman received the letter from Baucus. But by 2011 the new process was made the official policy of the IRS.

Although at first glance the information contained above seems to be no big deal, this turn of events represents blockbuster legal ramifications. The IRS began to levy a 35 percent gift tax on citizens who gave large donations to tax exempt organizations. However, the U.S. Supreme Court long ago had already declared that a gift tax of this nature is unconstitutional.

But the IRS began to levy such a tax and targeted for audits those persons who gave large donations to tax exempt groups. Going forward after the implementation of the policy, a key figure who shows up again is none other than Lois Lerner, who lied to Congress concerning her role in the IRS scandal which was designed to hamstring opponents of Barack Obama.

Interestingly, in spite of the fact that much of the information that is crucial to the scandal has been destroyed or withheld, the Acting IRS Commissioner at the time, Steven Miller, ordered that no more resources be spent investigating the audit issue and that the case be officially closed.

But as the nation now knows, this case is far from being closed. This, plus Hillary Clinton's Benghazi scandal at the State Dept., represent the scandal of all scandals that will haunt the candidate and countless personnel within the Obama administration in the foreseeable future and may serve to permanently taint the legacy of Barack Obama.