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Did Sarah Hall Ingram order that targeting of Tea Party groups be resumed?
Howard Richman, 6/17/2013
In 2012 Fifth Amendment pleader Learner ordered that targeting of conservative groups be stopped, but mysteriously, it was restarted and those in charge of the IRS at the time claim that they did not know who ordered that it be resumed.
Learner's assistant was Sarah Hall Ingram, who visited the White House 165 times since 2011 according to the The Daily Caller (Separate from Shulman, IRS official Sarah Hall Ingram recorded 165 White House visits) and that her visits never overlapped with then-IRS-commissioner Douglas Shulman's 157 visits.
John Parkinson of ABC news reported on May 16 (IRS Official in Charge During Tea Party Targeting Now Runs Health Care Office) that Ingram has since been promoted:
The Internal Revenue Service official in charge of the tax-exempt organizations at the time when the unit targeted tea party groups now runs the IRS office responsible for the health care legislation.
Sarah Hall Ingram served as commissioner of the office responsible for tax-exempt organizations between 2009 and 2012. But Ingram has since left that part of the IRS and is now the director of the IRS’ Affordable Care Act office, the IRS confirmed to ABC News today.
Did Learner plead the fifth so that she could hide Ingram's role? Were the IRS officials playing Sergeant Schultz from Hogan's heroes ("I know nothing") to hide her role. The only animated exchange during the Senate Finance Committee hearing occurred when Senator Toomey mentioned her name. He asked:
Why the IRS scandal is worse than the others
Howard Richman, 6/16/2013
In today's Baltimore Sun, former Maryland Governor Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr., (Why the IRS scandal is worse than the others) lists several reasons why the IRS scandal is worse than the others, one of which is that the IRS targeted conservative groups:
And the granddaddy of them all: irrefutable evidence the Obama IRS targeted conservative groups for special investigation smack dab in the middle of a tense presidential campaign. And at a time the president and his surrogates were running around the country complaining about the rise of the tea party and other similarly situated organizations.
This was an "in your face" operation: groups associated with the major conservative causes of the day (fiscal restraint, tax reform, marriage, pro-life) all came in for extraordinary (and highly questionable) scrutiny by certain alleged "rogue" personnel within the IRS in Cincinnati, Washington state or both. Only time and future investigation will tell how far up the chain the miscreant trail will lead, but I'm betting this was not simply a basement operation confined to "The River City."
Parenthetically, Ehrlich notes the flippant answer given by IRS Commissioner Douglas Schulman when asked about his many trips to the White House:...
Tax Cut Unreality
Jesse Richman, 12/2/2010
"The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman." Thomas Paine
It is time for all true fiscal conservatives to come to the aid of their country.
Some Republicans are trying to sell the myth that the Republican victory in the November 2010 midterm elections was a mandate for the re-enactment of all of the tax Bush cuts. If the exit poll was right, it was no such thing. According to the national exit poll, 18 percent of the electorate said they thought the priority of the next Congress should be tax cuts...
Tea Party's Contract from America endorses tax reform such as the FairTax
Howard Richman, 5/17/2010
The Tea Party Patriot's Contract from America endorses tax reform, such as the FairTax. Here's the relevant plank:
Enact Fundamental Tax ReformAdopt a simple fair single-rate tax system by scapping the internal revenue code and replacing it with one that is no longer than 4,543 words -- the length of the original constitution.
Meanwhile, the FairTax has become an issue in the congressional race, tomorrow, to fill Congressman Murtha's seat. John Kraushaar at Politico.com (FairTax spurs the campaign rhetoric) reports:...
The FairTax Solution
Howard Richman, 4/12/2010
Every year, Congress makes the personal income tax more complicated and time-consuming. Why not replace our entire tax system with the FairTax, a national sales tax with a prebate? Five huge problems would be solved:...
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Jun 2013
- Who ordered that targeting of Tea Party groups be resumed in May 2012?
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