Ellen P. Aprill
| May 23, 2013, 3:18 p.m.
IRS employees who review applications for exemption have a duty to ask follow-up questions of applicants, including groups affiliated with the tea party. In the current controversy, IRS reviewers wrongly singled out conservative groups for unusually exacting follow-up. In a number of these cases, they also asked inappropriate questions, such as the identity of donors.
By
Sam Goldfarb
| May 21, 2013, 6:58 p.m.
The IRS official in charge of the division accused of improperly targeting conservative groups will invoke her Fifth Amendment rights against compelled self-incrimination at a committee hearing Wednesday, a sign of concern that the political controversy is heading into the criminal arena.
By
Sam Goldfarb
| May 21, 2013, 6 a.m.
Current and former IRS officials will face a barrage of questions this week as they testify before Congress about the agency’s scrutiny of conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
By
Nathan Hurst
| May 20, 2013, 3:59 p.m.
The decline in driving by Americans may already be hastening the demise of the Highway Trust Fund.
By
Nathan Hurst
| May 20, 2013, 3:44 p.m.
A new study suggests the driving habits of Americans may be changing faster than lawmakers can figure out how to tax them.
By
Steven T. Dennis
| May 16, 2013, 2:53 p.m.
President Barack Obama defended his administration’s effort to stamp out national security leaks amid the controversy over the seizure of Associated Press phone records by the Justice Department.
By
Sam Goldfarb
| May 16, 2013, 5 a.m.
The breakdown in IRS management that led the agency into a scandal over the improper targeting of conservative groups began with long-standing problems at the division that oversees tax-exempt organizations, according to interviews with former IRS officials.
Melanie Sloan
| May 15, 2013, 3:44 p.m.
Everyone can agree it is unacceptable for the IRS to target particular organizations based on political ideology. If that’s what agents at the IRS were up to, they were wrong and there should be consequences. The real problem, however, is not that the IRS is overly aggressive but that it has sat by idly while an ever-increasing number of groups blatantly violate the laws governing 501(c)(4) organizations. Where is the outrage over that?
James S. Gilmore III
| May 15, 2013, 1:26 p.m.
In 1998, Congress passed the Internet Tax Freedom Act, which placed a three-year moratorium on new Internet taxes. In April of 2000, I was proud to serve as chairman of the Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce. Created by Congress, the commission was established to develop recommendations that would help further economic growth in the digital age. In our report to Congress, a majority of commissioners recommended that Congress maintain the moratorium on new Internet taxes. This week, unfortunately, the Senate reversed course. This is unfortunate because, while much has changed in the 13 years since we made our initial report to Congress, the recommendation to keep the Internet tax free is as relevant today as it was then.
By
Daniel Newhauser
| May 15, 2013, 10:55 a.m.
Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio said on Wednesday that somebody deserves go to jail as the investigation begins into why the Internal Revenue Service targeted conservative-leaning groups.
By
Daniel Newhauser, Emma Dumain
| May 14, 2013, 5:29 p.m.
Looking to up the ante on debt limit negotiations, House conservatives will push to enact spending changes included in the House-passed budget in exchange for an increase in the nation’s debt ceiling.
By
Niels Lesniewski, Emma Dumain
| May 13, 2013, 5:26 p.m.
The controversy embroiling the IRS kicked up another storm of rhetoric Monday over enforcement of campaign finance laws.
By
Emily Cadei
| May 13, 2013, 3:55 p.m.
After a temporary lull, Congress is gearing up to try to pass new Iran sanctions legislation in the coming months that could severely restrict whole segments of Iranian commerce, including oil. The aim is to have votes in both chambers as early as June, with a consensus bill moving to the president’s desk before the August recess.
By
Steven T. Dennis
| May 13, 2013, 3:39 p.m.
President Barack Obama said it would be “outrageous” if the Internal Revenue Service targeted conservative groups and that he would hold the agency accountable, while angrily dismissing the new reports last week over the editing of Benghazi talking points by his administration as a “sideshow” trumped up by his political opponents.
By
Sam Goldfarb
| May 9, 2013, 6 a.m.
As House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp gets closer to introducing a major rewrite of the tax code, the question of how the legislation will play politically is looming larger than ever.
Christopher E. Bergin
| May 8, 2013, 5 a.m.
Why do corporations spend millions on lobbyists? Because it’s good business.
By
Steven T. Dennis
| May 2, 2013, 9:22 a.m.
President Barack Obama Thursday tapped longtime Democratic fundraiser and billionaire businesswoman Penny Pritzker to lead the Commerce Department and economic adviser Michael Froman as the U.S. Trade Representative in a Rose Garden ceremony Thursday morning.
Steve DelBianco
| May 2, 2013, 5 a.m.
Handing your teenager your ATM card and the keys to a Ferrari is a bad idea. Teenagers are impulsive and don’t always think, or care, about how their actions will affect others. Teenagers want it all and they want it now, and patience is not among their virtues.
By
Jonathan Strong, Sam Goldfarb
| April 29, 2013, 5:03 p.m.
House Republicans are discussing plans to bring an overhaul of the tax code into an upcoming fight with President Barack Obama over raising the debt ceiling, but they do not see a tax rewrite as a substitute for the big spending cuts they also hope to achieve.
Mark Bloomfield
| April 26, 2013, 5 a.m.
For the first time in three decades, Congress is scrubbing up to perform surgery on our unfair, incomprehensible and anti-economic growth tax code. President Barack Obama has made his proposals. The chairmen of the two tax-writing committees in Congress, Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., and Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., titled a recent high-profile joint op-ed, “Tax Reform Is Very Much Alive and Doable.”
