The IRS says it has reformed since a pre-2012 election period when it admits to targeting conservative groups and paying tens of thousands of dollars to produce goofy and expensive videos, including one of employees line dancing to the "Cupid Shuffle," to spice up a conference in California.
IRS isn't going away any time soon, with more hearings on internal IRS shenanigans scheduled next week, particularly focused on a scathing new Inspector General report on spending within the agency, highlighted by the employee videos, which acting IRS commissioner Danny Werfel called "vestiges of another era."
At the same time, the scope of inquiry into the targeting of patriot and tea party groups has moved beyond original assertions of a few rogue low-level employees to 88 people whose computers Congress wants to inspect, and news that Doug Shulman, the IRS commissioner during the tea party targeting era, had 147 cleared visits to the White House, more than any other agency head. (It's not clear how many times he actually visited the White House.)
All of those revelations taken together are fueling a growing number of questions about an agency whose tendrils dig deep into the economic lives of every adult American.