The House Appropriations Committee has drafted a budget for the Internal Revenue Service for Fiscal Year 2015 – and Republicans are already using it as a vehicle for cracking down on the agency.
The bill makes several prohibitions and provisions designed to punish the agency for cracking down on conservative and Tea Party non-profit groups.
Here are nine of the budget proposals, as reported by the Washington Examiner’s Paul Bedard.
1. A prohibition on a proposed regulation related to political activities and the tax-exempt status of 501(c)(4) organizations. The proposed regulation could jeopardize the tax-exempt status of many non-profit organizations and inhibit citizens from exercising their right to freedom of speech, simply because they may be involved in political activity.
2. A prohibition on funds for bonuses or awards unless employee conduct and tax compliance is given consideration.
3. A prohibition on funds for the IRS to target groups for regulatory scrutiny based on their ideological beliefs.
4. A prohibition on funds for the IRS to target individuals for exercising their First Amendment rights.
5. A prohibition on funding for the production of inappropriate videos and conferences.
6. A prohibition on funding for the White House to order the IRS to determine the tax-exempt status of an organization.
7. A requirement for extensive reporting on IRS spending.
8. A prohibition on any transfers of funding from the Department of Health and Human Services to the IRS for ObamaCare uses
9. A prohibition on funding for the IRS to implement an individual insurance mandate on the American people.
According to reports, the IRS is promised $10.9 billion in the bill – about $341 million below current funding and $1.5 billion less than what Obama requested in the new fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.
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