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Posted on 08/21/2013 6:02:40 AM PDT by upchuck
Edited on 08/21/2013 9:16:38 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
In late September 2010, Iowa senator Chuck Grassley and six of his colleagues grew suspicious that a senior Obama administration official had improperly accessed the tax information of industrial behemoth Koch Industries. After Austan Goolsbee, then-chairman of the president’s Council of Economic Advisers, made an erroneous statement that implied direct knowledge of the company’s confidential tax status, the senators demanded that the Treasury Department inspector general for tax administration (TIGTA) investigate. Now, more than two years since the completion of that investigation, and despite repeated requests from Koch Industries and Senator Grassley himself, the results have yet to see the light of day.
Ironically, federal law is designed to keep that information from public view. Asked how taxpayers might discover whether their information has been accessed improperly, a spokeswoman for the House Ways and Means Committee tells National Review Online that, in most cases, “They won’t.”
In order for Koch Industries or the general public to see the TIGTA report, the IG’s office must refer the case to the Department of Justice for prosecution. If Justice declines to prosecute, all the relevant information remains under lock and key. Critics worry that a highly politicized Justice Department is unlikely to take up cases that have the potential to damage the Obama administration.
Koch Industries’ tax returns became the subject of controversy when, in an August 2010 briefing with reporters on a newly released tax-reform report, Goolsbee claimed that the company paid no corporate-income taxes. “We have a series of entities that do not pay corporate income tax,” he said, “some of which are really giant firms — you know, Koch Industries, I think, is one, is a multibillion-dollar business…”
Goolsbee’s assertion raised the eyebrows of a half-dozen GOP lawmakers, who subsequently called on Treasury Department inspector general J. Russell George to investigate whether Goolsbee had accessed the company’s tax returns in violation of federal law. In a letter to George, Grassley and his colleagues said they were “very concerned” by Goolsbee’s remarks. “The statement that Koch is a pass-through entity implies direct knowledge of Koch’s legal and tax status, which would appear to be a violation of section 6103,” they wrote, referring to the section of the Internal Revenue Code that protects the confidentiality of tax returns and all related information. George agreed to investigate.
Goolsbee tells National Review Online that his statement was nothing more than a slip of the tongue. He readily concedes that the company pays corporate taxes. “I certainly never saw any private information about their tax returns,” he says. “That I was in error ought to make that particularly obvious.”
George’s investigation concluded in August 2011. Since then, Koch Industries senior vice president and general counsel Mark Holden has repeatedly requested a report summarizing the agency’s findings from multiple federal agencies but has been summarily denied by all of them. “TIGTA sent me to the IRS, the IRS sent me back to TIGTA, but none of them would release the report or any information about the investigation,” Holden says.
Excerpt, read more at National Review Online
Smarmy.
More at the link: http://www.nationalreview.com/node/356260/print
This is where a REAL and CURIOUS press is sorely needed.
Nephews who are both West Point grads say this marxist mooselimb punk has installed his liberal scum in positions of power throughout the gub mint especially in the military so his unAmerican push will last long after his sorry magic negro ass. Are gone
If we can elect a strong conservative in 2016, number one on the to do list could be clean out the nobama trash.
Like you, I have been particularly distressed at the wimpy, girly, mealy mouthed garbage we’ve got running the military.
Yet if “Baghdad Carney” has said “The Sierra Club” instead of Koch Industries...well, we all know what would happen.
If the report had established that the IRS did NOT disclose the info you can be Obama would have sent it to every news netowrk and newspaper in the county. The fact it is kept under seal tells you all you need to know.
:: “Baghdad Carney” ::
Ooops; conflated Carney with Ghoul-sbee. Sorry.
Dubya did a really lousy job of removing Clinton scum from government. This cannot repeat with the next Republican resident.
Was thinking on the same line It one of the reasons were having problems today. 0 just added to the thugs W left in place or elevated them further.
Let us not forget that Harry Reid during the 2012 presidential election repeatedly said things about Mitt Romney’s taxes that implied he had access to them.
Lavrenti Beria would have enjoyed running today’s IRS.
bump
How does he know THAT?
” Like you, I have been particularly distressed at the wimpy, girly, mealy mouthed garbage we’ve got running the military.”
The upper ranks of the military has been destroyed.
Bump!
I've got a lengthening to do list for the Conservative that becomes president in 2016.
Cleaning the fifth out of the military is right at the top.
” Cleaning the fifth out of the military is right at the top. “
Amen!
No, Austan, YOU LIED! Your boss is rubbing off on all you guys.
Don't stop there! Take out the Clinton trash, too!
GWB and his "New Tone" left all the Clinton appointments in place...and he paid a terrible price for this decision.
We got the spectre of the federal bureaucracy running a secret war against the Chief Executive...
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