US probe of discriminatory IRS action may gain new dimensions

The recent US scandal over efforts by the nation’s taxing authority, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), in targeting right-wing groups and individuals that supported President Barack Obama’s Republican opponent in the 2012 presidential election appears to gain new dimensions, Press TV reports.

At the urging of Republican lawmakers and conservative groups, more individual Americans and organizations are stepping forward across the country, claiming that they have been targeted by IRS bullying measures based on their political party affiliation.

Since the news broke out that IRS agents deliberately targeted a number of conservative and Tea Party organizations applying for tax-exempt status, there has been growing reports of such partisan bullying practice by the widely-feared federal tax agency.

Republican lawmakers across the US are currently receiving complaints from their constituents on what appears to be a much broader IRS intimidation, which reportedly goes beyond the agency’s targeting of conservative groups.

Members of the US House of Representatives and Senate report that they have received further complaints on yet other instances of intimidation by the IRS since the taxing authority formally apologized for targeting ultra-conservative Tea Party groups.

Although Obama denounced the IRS measures as “outrageous,” the controversy is certainly dogging the Democratic president and his administration.

As Republican lawmakers continue to encourage their constituents to report further complaints of IRS bullying tactics, the question many are pondering is whether the White House was aware of or perhaps involved in the discriminatory practice.

According to recent press reports in Washington, individuals opposed to Obama’s reelection were systematically persecuted prior to November 2012’s nationwide presidential and congressional elections.

Businessmen and donors to Obama’s Republican challenger Mitt Romney were reportedly audited and fined by the IRS.

The acting commissioner of the agency was forced to resign over the scandal and Republican House Speaker John Boehner has suggested that criminal charges may be filed over the issue.

The development comes, however, despite the broad knowledge among pundits that both dominant political parties in the US have persistently manipulated loop holes in the nation’s tax system to raise billions of dollars in campaign funds for their respective candidates for political office.

US observers believe the IRS action under a Democratic administration is sure to trigger yet another major political battle between liberal and conservative politicians across the nation.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration is currently fighting off three controversies at once, from the IRS scandal, to the Justice Department’s seizure of journalists’ phone records and to the September 11, 2012 Benghazi incident at US Consulate that left four Americans dead, including its Libya ambassador.