Steven Miller, acting Internal Revenue Service commissioner since November 2012, resigned Wednesday after a watchdog report outlined how the agency targeted some political advocacy groups seeking tax exempt status, the Washington Post reports.Zachary Goldfarb and Juliet Eilperin write the Treasury inspector general for tax administration found some employees in the IRS’ tax-exempt unit were ignorant about tax laws and defied their supervisors, among other problems.
The IG suggested the employees were trying to develop a new system for screening applications from political advocacy groups and did not find partisan agendas as a motivator, according to the report.
According to Bloomberg, Miller and then-Commissioner Doug Shulman were notified of the practice in May 2012 but did not inform Congress because they did not want to interfere with an IG investigation.
Richard Rubin writes the House Ways and Means Committee will hold the first hearing on matter Friday, with Miller and IRS Inspector General Russell George scheduled to testify.
The Senate Finance Committee has a hearing scheduled for Tuesday and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is set to meet Wednesday on the matter.
