List of allegations of misuse of the Internal Revenue Service

[1] "My father," Elliott Roosevelt observed of his famous parent, "may have been the originator of the concept of employing the IRS as a weapon of political retribution.

Differences emerged between the service and White House over the purpose of the SSS, as the latter pushed for gathering "valuable intelligence-type information" through field audits and curtailing the activities of certain groups through "administrative action."

He refused another push to appoint Caulfield as head of a proposed "quasi-autonomous" enforcement branch of the ATF, which he termed a "personal police force."

Later in 1971 he resigned as Commissioner, saying the "introduction of political influence into the IRS would be very damaging to him and his administration, as well as to the revenue system and the general public interest.

Caulfield also called for an audit of Emile De Antonio, producer of the film Millhouse: A White Comedy which satirized Nixon.

The White House also "apparently obtained confidential tax information" on journalist James Polk after he had written articles on the President's lawyer, Herb Kalmbach.

[8] IRS Commissioner Walters refused the request of John Dean to investigate 490 staffers and contributors to the George McGovern Presidential campaign.

[8] In 1974, a Bill of Impeachment against President Richard Nixon was approved by the House Judiciary Committee that included charges that his administration attempted to use the IRS in a discriminatory manner: Conservative groups, including The Heritage Foundation, the National Rifle Association of America, and Judicial Watch alleged that the Clinton administration subjected them to politically motivated audits.

[14] The NAACP was audited in 2004 after its chairman criticized then-President George W. Bush for failing to address the group, becoming the first president to do so since Herbert Hoover.

[15] The IRS informed the NAACP that the audit was prompted by then-NAACP-chairman Julian Bond's speech, which "condemned the administration policies of George W. Bush on education, the economy and the war in Iraq.

[19] In May 2013, the IRS admitted it had subjected conservative political groups to closer scrutiny in their applications for tax-exempt status based on particular keywords in their names.

[20][21] However, Republicans argue that the refusal of Lois Lerner (at the time was Director of the IRS's Exempt Organizations Unit) to testify before Congress, twice citing her Constitutional right against self-incrimination, suggests involvement by higher-level employees.