IRS Targeted 292 Tea Party Groups, Only 6 Progressive Groups

Even though Democrats contend that progressive groups were also the target in the Internal Revenue Service tax status probes, the Treasury Department's inspector general has revealed only six progressive groups were targeted by the IRS as opposed to 292 tea party groups that received extra scrutiny.

The inspector general's report also revealed that while 100 percent of tea party groups seeking special tax status were put under review, only 30 percent of progressive groups were put under review.

"At this point, the evidence shows us that conservative groups were not only flagged, but targeted and abused by the IRS," said spokeswoman for the Ways and Means Committee,Sarah Swinehart.

"As we gather the facts, we will follow them wherever they lead us. Chairman [Rep. David] Camp encourages all groups, regardless of political affiliation, that feel they may have been targeted to come forward and share their story."

Democrats also contended the word "progressives" was on the Be on the Lookout, or BOLO, list, but the inspector general suggested that list was not used at all.

"Based on the information you flagged regarding the existence of a 'Progressives' entry on BOLO lists, TIGTA performed additional research which determined that six tax-exempt applications filed between May 2010 and May 2012 having the words 'progress' or 'progressive' in their names were included in the 298 cases the IRS identified as potential political cases. We also determined that 14 tax-exempt applications filed between May 2010 and May 2012 using the words 'progress' or 'progressive' in their names were not referred for added scrutiny as potential political cases. In total, 30 percent of the organizations we identified with the words 'progress' or "progressive" in their names were processed as potential political cases. In comparison, our audit found that 100 percent of the tax-exempt applications with Tea Party, Patriots, or 9/12 in their names were processed as potential political cases during the timeframe of our audit."