Kerby Anderson

Late last year I wrote a commentary that made the case for impeachment of the current IRS director. There is even more evidence now that the IRS has been forced to provide a list of 426 conservative groups that were singled out for additional scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status. I might also mention that this list does not include 40 groups that opted out of the lawsuit that was brought. So the actually number of groups targeted by the IRS was 466.

While I am talking about numbers, it is worth mentioning that the original number used by the Treasury Inspector was 298 groups. The IRS hasn’t explained why the latest number is much larger. One theory is that when the IRS came under fire, they started adding names of liberal groups in order to hide what they were doing.

In my October commentary I made the case for impeachment of the IRS director. He can be impeached for dereliction of duty because he failed to disclose the disappearance of the IRS emails germane to the congressional investigation. He can be impeached for failure to comply because he and his agency have not complied with the investigation. He can also be impeached for breach of trust because of his refusal to testify accurately before Congress and due to his failure to keep his promises to Congress.

Representative Jason Chaffetz is the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. He says the IRS has “lied to Congress” and “destroyed documents under subpoena.” He has accused the IRS chairman of “lies, obfuscation, and deceit.”

This latest revelation that the IRS targeted 466 groups and attempted to delay their ability to receive tax-exempt status should seal the deal. In fact, it took a three-year lawsuit from these tea party groups and it took a ruling from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals just to get the names of the groups that were mistreated. It is time for Congress to act.