NOT REALLY BYGONES

IRS Knew Tea Party Was Targeted

Despite blaming low-level employees.

This isn’t really going to help with the paranoia. The Internal Revenue Service apparently knew that Tea Party groups were targeted for review as early as 2011, according to a draft of an inspector general’s report obtained by the Associated Press on Saturday. The document contradicts the IRS’s earlier statement that it was only low-level employees targeting the Tea Party groups. The IRS apologized on Friday, calling the review of the tax exemption of conservative political groups in 2012 “inappropriate.” According to the report, Lois G. Lerner, the head of the division that investigates tax exempt status, was told that groups that had the words “Tea Party” or “Patriot” or “9/12 Project” were being flagged for review.