So the IRS has admitted to sitting on applications for tax-exempt status by Tea Party groups for political reasons.
According to the government's own investigation, applications containing terms such as Tea Party and Patriot were singled out for delays and holds even as groups with liberal-sounding names like "Bus for Progress" and "Progress Florida" sailed through the process.
President Obama said "the report's findings are intolerable and inexcusable" and even fired the acting head of the Internal Revenue Service.
Regardless of how this particular scandal shakes out, there's still going to be at least three good reasons to be scared as hell of the IRS.
1. It's always been a political weapon.
John F Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and Richard Nixon all sicced the IRS on enemies and dissenters. And they were just following in the footsteps of Franklin Roosevelt, whose son said his father was "the originator of the concept of employing the IRS as a weapon of political retribution."
2. Its rulings are super-complicated and capricious.
The federal tax code is longer than Atlas Shrugged, Ulysses, and the Old Testament put together. It's so complicated that even former IRS commissioners need help preparing their returns.
3. It's Obamacare's enforcement mechanism.
Starting next year, the IRS will be the cop patrolling the Affordable Care Act's mandates, with the agency overseeing some 47 tax provisions related to Obamacare. You won't just be reporting income anymore. You'll be explaining when, where, and how you bought health care as well.
Written and narrated by Nick Gillespie. Video shot and produced by Meredith Bragg.
