This past Wednesday, May 15, President Barack Obama announced that acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller planned to resign due to the scandal of conservative groups being targeted. According to Fox News, Miller had been planning to step down despite the rumors.
The President did not mention that Miller had planned to resign in early June. According to Fox News, while speaking with Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, in addition to other department officials, they discussed a general’s report, “which concluded poor management allowed agents to improperly target Tea Party and other groups for more than 18 moths, starting in 2010.”
Lew had requested Miller resign, and he agreed, after only being on the job since November of 2012. Obama plans to name a new acting commissioner by the end of the week.
With both of the major parties being angry with the IRS’s recent actions, they have welcomed the resignation, but still plan to investigate the scandal. People believe the resignation is a necessary first step, although, it is certainly not the last.
Obama had outlined a three-step plan to resolve the problem, first being with Miller resigning. The next steps include putting the safeguards recommended in the IG report in place, and end with working intensely with congress as they continue to investigate.
Obama held a press conferences on Thursday, May 16. He reports that much of the blame is to be put on the IRS supervisors in Washington, who approved of a group of specialists in Cincinnati that screened applications for tax-exempt status. It was not clearly stated that Washington initiated the targeting of conservative groups, but it was noted that one of the top supervisors in Washington did not efficiently supervise the agents in the field, although she had prior knowledge that the agents had been acting poorly.
In addition to the President and Congress continuing to investigate the situation, the Justice Department plans to join as well, as well as three congressional committees. Miller will remain IRS Commissioner for a few more weeks, and even attend a hearing on Friday, according to the House Ways and Means Committee.
Senator of Utah, Orrin Hatch, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, stated that “the resignation of Steven Miller is a positive and important step as this agency struggles to try and regain the public’s trust. A clean slate at the IRS with new leadership is imperative to fix this egregious encroachment on the lives of honest, hard-working Americans whose only sin was that they want to express their beliefs.”
With that being said, Obama wants the public to understand as well as believe that the IRS applies all of the tax laws equally and fairly to all citizens. Actions will be taken to resolve the consequences.