Acting Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Steven Miller has acknowledged that the agency made mistakes in handling a surge in applications for tax-exempt status from advocacy groups but argued that the targeting of certain groups for additional scrutiny was not politically motivated.
"The Internal Revenue Service recognizes that we should have done a better job of handling the influx of applications by advocacy organizations," Miller wrote in an op-ed published Tuesday in USA Today.
"Mistakes were made, but they were in no way due to any political or partisan motivation," he added. "We are — and will continue to be — dedicated to reviewing all applications for tax-exempt status in an impartial manner."
Miller noted that filings for tax-exempt status more than doubled between 2010 and 2012, jumping from 1,591 to 3,398.
"Because the law limits and in some cases prohibits political intervention by exempt organizations, the IRS must carefully review applications based on the facts of each case," Miller wrote.
The IRS chief said the way the agency initially centralized the cases did not make sense, indicating that a shortcut was taken to determine which groups needed additional review.
Last Friday, reports indicated that the IRS had apologized to some conservative groups for singling out their applications for tax-exempt status for additional review based on the inclusion of words such as "Tea Party" or "patriot."
"The mistakes we made were due to the absence of a sufficient process for working the increase in cases and a lack of sensitivity to the implications of some of the decisions that were made," Miller wrote.
"We fixed the situation last year, and have made significant progress in moving the centralized cases through our system," he added. "To date, more than half of these cases have been approved or withdrawn."
Miller argued that the agency has implemented new procedures to avoid the earlier mistakes and claimed applications from all parts of the political spectrum receive the same, even-handed treatment.
Nonetheless, the news of apparent partisanship within the IRS has been met with harsh criticism from across Washington, with President Obama called the alleged targeting of certain political groups "outrageous."
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ken., and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., have called for Miller's resignation due to the revelations.
According to Politico, McConnell on Tuesday won the endorsement of one of the groups targeted by the IRS, TheTeaParty.net.
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