Anyone who watched any of Acting IRS Commissioner Steve Miller's testimony today probably came away with a righteous indignation about how the IRS targeted conservative groups for abusive treatment. Poor old Mr. Miller looked like a scolded hound as both Republicans and Democrats went after him. But other than having to sit through a few hours of tough grilling, he'll pay no price. It was the underlings who did all those bad things, you see. Miller will land on his feet, and as a tax lawyer with first hand experience with the IRS, he'll likely land a very, very high paying job. Check out his CV.
Anyway, some Democrats are trying to make a big deal out of the fact that the acting IRS Commissioner who was in charge when the shenanigans started, Douglas H. Shulman, was appointed by George W. Bush.
That's irrelevant. Barack Obama changed the atmosphere when he became president. There was constant bad mouthing about Republicans from the highest levels, and when the Tea Parties came along, there was a new boogie man for Democrats to smear. And smear they did.
Those low level IRS employees didn't need specific instructions. They simply used their passive aggressive ways to do what they thought was right to achieve the progressive America Obama wanted by slowing down these hillbillies with their come-and-take-it flags. The bosses just looked the other way, pretending not to see. The entire atmosphere at the IRS and probably all government agencies was polluted with anti conservative vitriol.
Maybe this will be the final straw that will lead to some real tax reform. A flat tax would be the perfect solution. But perfect solutions seldom come from government.
Post script. For some reason I was reminded of a conversation I had over a decade ago with a government lawyer. He was an impassioned Democrat who hated Republicans and at the time was angry over the possibility that George W. Bush might become president. While he admitted that often the Republican government appointees were better administrators than the Democrat appointees, he said that there are countless ways the employees could make the guy/gal at the top of the agency look bad.
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