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To urge the Internal Revenue Service to correct its | 1 |
policy of targeting tax-exempt status applications | 2 |
for additional review based on the applicant | 3 |
organization's presumed political affiliation. | 4 |
WHEREAS, A recent report issued by the federal Treasury | 5 |
Inspector General for Tax Administration ("Inspector General") | 6 |
found that, beginning in 2010, the Internal Revenue Service | 7 |
("IRS") developed and used inappropriate criteria to review the | 8 |
applications of organizations applying for tax-exempt status; and | 9 |
WHEREAS, Such criteria were based on the political names or | 10 |
policy positions of the applicant organizations; for example, the | 11 |
IRS asked employees to give additional scrutiny to applications | 12 |
from groups whose name included "Tea Party" or other | 13 |
"political-sounding" words; and | 14 |
WHEREAS, The Inspector General found that organizations that | 15 |
applied for tax-exempt status and had their application flagged | 16 |
for further review experienced substantial delays and were asked | 17 |
to supply unnecessary information; and | 18 |
WHEREAS, According to the Inspector General, the IRS should | 19 |
take corrective actions to ensure that applications are processed | 20 |
without unreasonable delay in a fair and impartial manner in the | 21 |
future; now therefore be it | 22 |
RESOLVED, That we, the members of the 130th General Assembly | 23 |
of the State of Ohio, urge the IRS to take immediate action to | 24 |
correct its policies and cease targeting organizations applying | 25 |
for tax-exempt status based on the organization's political | 26 |
affiliation; and be it further | 27 |
RESOLVED, That the Clerk of the House of Representatives | 28 |
transmit duly authenticated copies of this resolution to the | 29 |
United States Secretary of the Treasury, the Acting Commissioner | 30 |
of Internal Revenue, and the news media of Ohio. | 31 |