> In 2013, the IRS became embroiled in a political scandal in which it was discovered that the agency subjected conservative or conservative-sounding groups filing for tax-exempt status to extra scrutiny.[56]
> On September 5, 16 months after the scandal first erupted, a Senate Subcommittee released a report that confirmed that Internal Revenue Service used inappropriate criteria to target Tea Party groups, but found no evidence of political bias.[57] The chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations confirmed that while the actions were "inappropriate, intrusive, and burdensome," the Democrats have often experienced similar treatment.[58] Republicans noted that 83% of the groups being held up by the IRS were right-leaning; and the Subcommittee Minority staff, which did not join the Majority staff report, filed a dissenting report entitled, “IRS Targeting Tea Party Groups.” [59]
The shenanigans happened in the run-up to the 2012 elections. The "extra scrutiny" was basically stonewalling, delays, and creepy investigations into personal lives of individuals in the groups that were filing for tax-exempt status. If I recall correctly, when you had "Tea" or "Patriot" in the name of your organization, your application automatically got forwarded to a dedicated abuse squad at IRS. Tea parties had trouble organizing due to these tactics because they couldn't fundraise.
Can you elaborate on this one? I can't figure out what it's referencing.