As the investigation into IRS targeting of conservative organizations continues, new evidence indicates the former official at the heart of the controversy let serious tax evasion slide when perpetuated by traditionally liberal sources.
Lois Lerner, who headed the agency’s department of tax-exempt organizations during the time Tea Party-backed groups were reportedly subjected to unfair scrutiny, has been implicated in a number of improprieties, many of which were revealed through email exchanges between her office and other federal officials. Despite the fact that the IRS claimed that about two years’ worth of her online correspondences were destroyed in a hard drive crash, many of these incriminating communications have come to light in recent months.
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The latest, according to the Daily Caller, shows that Lerner was aware of – and subsequently dismissed – evidence that a number of labor unions failed to report an accurate total of political spending.
The Department of Labor reportedly brought the matter to her attention, providing documentation that the unions’ paperwork with that agency differed greatly from the amount submitted to the IRS.
“We looked at the information you provided regarding organizations that report substantial amounts of political activity and lobbying expenditures on the DOL Form LM-2,” she wrote in an email to the Labor Department, “but report little to no political expenditures on the Form 990 filed with the IRS.”
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She somehow came to the conclusion that “this difference in reporting does not necessarily indicate that the organization has incorrectly reported to either the DOL or the IRS.”
Complaints of such behavior were raised against several unions. The AFL-CIO, for example, informed the DOL that it spent nearly $30 million in political activity during 2006 while reporting absolutely no expenditures on corresponding IRS paperwork.
Similar results were found within the National Education Association, the Teamsters Union, and other left-leaning labor groups.
Lerner noted that DOL and IRS requirements differ regarding which expenditures must be reported, suggesting these differences could account for the apparent inaccuracies.
Nevertheless, she admitted that some of the evidence “raised concerns,” promising to forward the evidence to a regional office in Dallas “to determine whether examination is warranted.”
The Daily Caller concluded that there is no evidence any such inquiry followed.
Former Office of Labor-Management Standards Deputy Assistant Secretary Don Todd affirmed that he was fully aware of the complaints against unions; however, he indicated that the issue was never properly addressed.
“The IRS was telling us it would cost more to enforce the law than they would collect,” he said.
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