The Missing Koch Report [More Obama thugism]

National Review ^ | August 20, 2013 | Eliana Johnson

[upchuck]

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

[okie01]

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.

And you can bet that Dingy Harry knew damn good and well that his having any information on Romney's taxes meant that somebody broke the law.

Yet, he seemed to relish rubbing our noses in the fact that the Democrats were acting lawlessly. He obviously didn't expect there to be any adverse consequences...

[unread]

"Dubya did a really lousy job of removing Clinton scum from government. This cannot repeat with the next Republican resident."

I fully agree...the infection is too the bone!! whoever gets the job will have to dig really deep.!!