Political Quotes

“I rise to introduce the Taxpayer Protection Act of 2014. This bill would require the independent IRS oversight board to better fulfill its obligation to protect the constitutional rights of American taxpayers. The history of the IRS offers abundant examples of the agency trampling on these rights. In the most recent controversy, the IRS subjected applications from conservative groups that were seeking tax-exempt status to heightened scrutiny. Delaying these groups' applications suggests an effort to chill the constitutional right of speech and association by groups that hold conservative views. The details that have emerged are truly alarming. The IRS has admitted that it deliberately targeted conservative groups' applications for tax-exempt status for extra review if they included such words as ``tea party,'' ``patriots,'' or ``9/11'' in their names or they criticized how this country is being run or if their purpose were to address government spending, government debt, taxes, or simply to make America a better place. Incredible. These inappropriate criteria stayed in place for more than 18 months and resulted in substantial delays in processing the applications of many different groups. In some cases, the applications remained outstanding for more than 2 years. The IRS also sought to compel some of the targeted groups to divulge their membership list.…”