U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., a member of the Senate Committee on Finance which oversees the Internal Revenue Service, issued the following statement regarding the committee’s bipartisan report released August 5, 2015, that confirmed the IRS negatively targeted conservative political groups and identified serious management problems at the agency.
 
“I am outraged, but unfortunately not surprised, by the contents of this report,” said Isakson. “It is unconscionable that in the United States of America, conservative groups have been unfairly targeted by a government agency for exercising their First Amendment rights. This report adds to the urgency for Congress to enact meaningful tax reform that gets the IRS out of the business of micromanaging every aspect of Americans’ lives. Furthermore, I agree with my Republican colleagues’ findings that unions should not be allowed to influence the agency responsible for collecting federal revenues.”
 
The report found that the IRS was influenced by a variety of factors, including the political beliefs of individual IRS employees, union activity, and even statements by the White House, all contributing to the way the IRS operated in limiting political speech by individuals and tax-exempt organizations. This IRS misconduct affected more than 300 citizen groups and resulted in delays of up to five years in processing applications for tax-exempt status. Additionally, the IRS purposefully misled Congress about whether it targeted political organizations and obstructed Congress’s investigation in multiple ways.
 
The report states, “[F]rom 2010 to 2013, IRS management was delinquent in its responsibility to provide effective control, guidance, and direction over the processing of applications for tax exempt status filed by Tea Party and other political advocacy organizations.” (p. 6)
                                                                   
The report also found that almost 50,000 IRS employees actually pay union dues. In recent elections, more than 95 percent of the union’s political contributions have gone to Democratic candidates, and in 2011, IRS employees spent more than 600,000 hours of official time on union duties. More than 200 IRS employees work full-time on union issues.
 
“I have gone multiple rounds with IRS Commissioner John Koskinen over his threats to cut back even further on customer service, yet more than 200 IRS employees are working full-time on union issues,” said Isakson. “The Department of Veterans’ Affairs has this same problematic issue, and we have got to get it fixed. The priorities of these agencies are out of whack. Taxpayer dollars should not be used for union activities that should instead be conducted during the employees’ paid time off, as would be demanded in the private sector.”
 
Isakson is a co-sponsor of the Federal Employee Accountability Act to restrict the ability of federal employees to conduct as much union-related business as they want at the office while on the government payroll.
 
Isakson vowed to get answers when the allegations of misconduct by the IRS were first brought to light. He sent a letter to President Obama demanding full compliance with congressional investigation requests for information on how the IRS targeted conservative groups in May 2013.
 
Isakson is a co-sponsor of the Fair Tax Act of 2015, which would abolish the IRS, repeal all federal income and payroll taxes, and replace them with a revenue-neutral, personal consumption tax.
 
Isakson is a co-sponsor of the Stop Targeting of Political Beliefs by the IRS Act to stop further attempts by the IRS to exploit bureaucratic loopholes to restrict the free speech rights of the same types of tax-exempt social welfare organizations victimized in the IRS political targeting scandal.
 
During the 113th Congress, Isakson co-sponsored S.941, the Taxpayer Nondiscrimination & Protection Act of 2013, a bill introduced by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., that would add criminal penalties for IRS employees who target political organizations. Isakson also co-sponsored S.937, the Project Against Ideology-Based Targeting Act, which was introduced by Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., that would prohibit the IRS from targeting organizations based on ideology. He also co-sponsored the IRS Abuse Protection Act, S.1489, that would require the federal government to notify taxpayers whenever the IRS has accessed their tax returns or other information.