FLASHBACK: Former IRS Chief Told Congress His Agency Does Not Target Tea Party Groups

As we learned last week, the Internal Revenue Service reportedly targeted conservative “tea party” organizations during the 2012 election cycle by applying increased scrutiny to them when applying for tax-exempt status. BuzzFeed has unearthed a clip showing the IRS’ own former head asserting that his agency absolutely does not target any groups for increased scrutiny based on political beliefs.

Appearing before the House Ways & Means Subcommittee on Oversight in March 2012, then-commissioner of the IRS Douglas Shulman told Congress that his agency was not engaged in the targeting of tea party organizations, despite complaints lawmakers had received from various groups over their treatment from the bureau.

“Yes, I can give you assurances,” Shulman said when asked to reassure the panel that the IRS does not engage in political targeting. “As you know, we pride ourselves on being a non-political, non-partisan organization,” he added.

Shulman, who was a Republican appointee under President George W. Bush, told the panel: “Me and our chief counsel are the only presidential appointees and I have a five-year term that runs through presidential elections just so we will have none of that kind of political intervention into things that we do.”

Shulman’s term with the IRS ended in November 2012, after the reported targeting took place.

Watch below, via C-SPAN:

[h/t Andrew Kaczynski, BuzzFeed]

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