The IRS apologized to a GOP lawmaker this week for sending her an unsigned form letter after House Republicans pressed the agency to investigate the Clinton Foundation’s tax status.
The agency’s letter to Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) earlier this month was also addressed to “Sir or Madam.” John Koskinen, the IRS commissioner, blamed the mix-up on an administrative snafu, saying that the agency hadn’t put the signature of the new agency official that oversees tax-exempt groups into their systems yet.
{mosads}”We will be updating the system to include her signature soon, and I apologize that the letter that you received was unsigned,” Koskinen wrote to Blackburn. “I assure you that we are treating your letter as a referral and will consider the information you provided in determining whether additional review of the organization’s activities is needed.”
In a statement, Blackburn said she was glad to hear from Koskinen. “It is appropriate that the IRS has issued an apology and corrected the record,” she said. “Congressional inquiries are deserving of respect and a certain level of tact, which was glaringly absent in the agency’s initial response.”
Blackburn, joined by more than four dozen other GOP lawmakers, had urged the IRS to examine the Clinton Foundation – the tax-exempt group of former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the current front-runner for the 2016 Democratic nomination.
But at least publicly, GOP leaders and top lawmakers on the committees that oversee the IRS haven’t appeared as concerned about the Clinton Foundation’s tax status.