LYING TO CONGRESS? Top IRS official didn’t reveal tea party targeting. “Congress was not told tea party groups were being inappropriately targeted by the Internal Revenue Service, even after acting agency Chief Steven Miller had been briefed on the matter. . . . At least twice after the briefing, Miller wrote letters to members of Congress to explain the process of reviewing applications for tax-exempt status without disclosing that tea party groups had been targeted. On July 25, 2012, Miller testified before the House Ways and Means oversight subcommittee, but again did not mention the additional scrutiny — despite being asked about it.”

UPDATE: A TaxProf roundup: IRS Scandal, Day 5.

And note that some people saw this coming. “We had lots of discussions about fundraising, forming a 501(c)(4) and in the end we decided not to do it specifically because of the threat of an audit.”

David Kirkham emails: “The article says it didn’t hinder us. That isn’t correct. Of course it hindered us–we couldn’t fund raise. We just worked around it the best we could.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Jane Woodson writes: “I know you are hearing a lot of this, but the Sturbridge Tea Party also made the conscious decision to not apply for a 501(c)(4) designation out of fear of the IRS. The impact changed our vision of a grand movement to a very small one.”