IRS facing $14M price tag from Tea Party probe

The Internal Revenue Service has paid at least $14 million to comply with ongoing congressional investigations over whether it improperly targeted conservative groups.

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told congressional Democrats in a letter that his agency has faced $8 million in direct costs for complying with the probes, and another $6 million to $8 million beefing up its technology systems to provide information to investigators.

{mosads}He added that such an estimate is a conservative one, because it does not take into account “ancillary support costs” where IRS staff faced increased work not directly tied to the investigation, such as legislative affairs and public affairs staff. 

Reps. Sandy Levin (D-Mich.) and Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the top Democrats on the House Ways and Means and Oversight committees, respectively, requested the information. They used the figures to cry foul over Republicans continuing to dig into IRS operations, despite no evidence that the questioning of the tax-exempt applications of some Tea Party groups was politically motivated.

“After one of the most far-reaching investigations in recent history—spanning multiple House and Senate Committees that obtained hundreds of thousands of documents and interviewed dozens of officials—there is absolutely zero evidence of political motivation or White House involvement,” they said in a statement. “Despite this fact, Republicans remain fixated on falsely accusing the White House of targeting its political enemies, wasting millions of dollars in an attempt to reignite their partisan inquiry before the November elections.”

The IRS entered a firestorm of controversy nine months ago, when agency officials apologized for improperly targeting Tea Party groups. That apology launched a massive congressional investigation, spurred on by Republicans who questioned whether the IRS was directed to probe Tea Party groups by White House officials.

So far, no evidence of political pressure behind the questions has emerged, as some liberal groups were also found to face improper questioning.

But the issue remains a hot-button one among Republicans. House Republicans are expected to advance a number of bills cracking down on the IRS this week. And the House Oversight Committee is seeking to bring back Lois Lerner, the IRS official at the center of the episode, to answer questions.

Lerner previously refused to answer questions, citing her Fifth Amendment rights, but Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) contends she waived that right when she made a statement before the panel defending herself.

On Tuesday, Issa said he would bring Lerner back to testify on March 5, but her lawyer said Wednesday would continue to refuse answering questions unless granted immunity.