The IRS has released a list of the tea party and conservative groups it targeted for additional scrutiny, the Washington Times reported.
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) found in 2013 that the IRS was targeting conservative groups that were seeking tax-exempt status by subjecting their applications to extensive delays and had asked the groups intrusive questions.
"The tax agency filed the list last month as part of a court case after a series of federal judges, fed up with what they said was the agency’s stonewalling, ordered it to get a move on," the article said. "The case is a class-action lawsuit, so the list of names is critical to knowing the scope of those who would have a claim against the IRS."
The list included 426 organizations that were targeted, not including 40 groups that were not released in the list because they opted out of the lawsuit. Originally, TIGTA’s audit found that 298 groups had been targeted in 2013.
"Sixty of the groups on the list released last month have the word ‘tea’ in their name, 33 have ‘patriot’ eight refer to the Constitution, and 13 have ‘912’ in their name—which is the moniker of a movement started by conservatives," the article states. "Another 26 group names refer to ‘liberty,’ though that list does include some groups that are not discernably conservative in orientation."
There were three groups with the word "occupy" in their name.
"As we have identified in our filings in this case, important questions still exist regarding changes to the IRS’ case listings that occurred after the IRS learned that the [inspector general] and congressional investigations had begun," said Edward Greim, the lawyer who is representing NorCal Tea Party Patriots in the lawsuit.
"Based on these changes, which to date remain unexplained, a very real possibility—if not probability—exists that the IRS modified its targeting in light of the investigations, packing its own internal lists of targeted groups to support its preferred narrative, including by adding ideologically diverse groups," he said.