(DCNF)—A government watchdog group is calling for the job of an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) official who played a part in a major-Obama era scandal at the agency before being promoted by the Biden administration now runs a key division of the tax collection agency.
Holly Paz was former IRS Commissioner Lois Lerner’s top deputy at the agency as Lerner and the Obama IRS allegedly targeted political opponents, and she is currently listed on the IRS website as the commissioner of the agency’s Large Business and International Division. The American Accountability Foundation (AAF) — a right-of-center government watchdog group — called for Paz’s job given her connections to an infamous instance of the federal government treating American taxpayers differently based on political affiliation, according to a letter sent Thursday to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“The American Accountability Foundation has launched an investigation into the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for issues pertaining to partisanship and its continued targeting of conservatives,” AAF wrote in its letter to Bessent. “Our first finding of this investigation is that the former top deputy to Louis Lerner — Holly Paz — regained a high-ranking position within the IRS during the Biden Administration. Paz was placed on leave and ousted from her role at the IRS in 2013 amid allegations she targeted conservative organizations seeking tax-exempt status.”
AAF Letter on Holly Paz by Nick Pope
“With allegations that the IRS maintains political bias and is still targeting conservatives, Paz cannot be allowed to maintain a role in the IRS,” the letter concludes. “Taxpayers deserve to have faith in those that receive a government salary and Paz has proved undeserving of the honor to serve the American public. The American Accountability Foundation will continue to investigate IRS leadership and implores the Trump administration to root out any anti-conservative partisan bias at the IRS.”
The Large Business and International Division — which Paz currently oversees — is “responsible for tax administration activities for domestic and foreign businesses with a United States tax reporting requirement and assets equal to or exceeding $10 million as well as the Global High Wealth and International Individual Compliance programs,” according to the IRS.
The Tea Party scandal centered around allegations that the Obama IRS subjected conservative organizations seeking tax-exempt status to extensive scrutiny that was not applied equally to progressive groups applying for the same, with the IRS ultimately apologizing in 2017 for its conduct.
Paz was a top deputy to Lerner at the IRS until she was replaced in 2013 following the Tea Party controversy. She appears to have re-joined the agency sometime during the Biden administration.
During her first stint at the IRS, Paz personally reviewed between 20 and 30 “Tea Party” applications. Many of the applications Paz reviewed were effectively put on hold for more than a year.
Paz — who once donated thousands to the 2008 Obama campaign — testified to congressional investigators in May 2013 that “political campaign intervention in 501(c)(4)s was not something we had previously dealt with very much” at the IRS, according to the House Oversight and Accountability Committee. That testimony conflicted with an internal IRS email discovered by investigators in which Paz wrote that she expected the IRS to approve applications of most Tea Party groups because “this is not a new issue for the agency.”
Additionally, Paz told investigators that “Tea Party” was a catch-all phrase for political organizations seeking tax-exempt status, not unlike “Kleenex” being used as a catch-all colloquial phrase to describe tissues, according to the House Oversight and Accountability Committee. However, several other employees at the Cincinnati IRS office disputed that testimony, with one of the employees telling investigators that applications of liberal or left-wing groups seeking tax-exempt status were not put into “general inventory” or otherwise scrutinized excessively.
Republican investigators also highlighted other inconsistencies in Paz’s testimony, such as the timelines she offered for when D.C.-based IRS personnel became aware of controversial changes to the agency’s “be on the lookout” list and when she herself became aware of inappropriate targeting of Tea Party groups, according to the House Oversight and Accountability Committee.
The Treasury Department and Paz did not respond to requests for comment.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
Independent Journalism Is Dying
Ever since President Trump’s miraculous victory, we’ve heard an incessant drumbeat about how legacy media is dying. This is true. The people have awakened to the reality that they’re being lied to by the self-proclaimed “Arbiters of Truth” for the sake of political expediency, corporate self-protection, and globalist ambitions.
But even as independent journalism rises to fill the void left by legacy media, there is still a huge challenge. Those at the top of independent media like Joe Rogan, Dan Bongino, and Tucker Carlson are thriving and rightly so. They have earned their audience and the financial rewards that come from it. They’ve taken risks and worked hard to get to where they are.
For “the rest of us,” legacy media and their proxies are making it exceptionally difficult to survive, let alone thrive. They still have a stranglehold over the “fact checkers” who have a dramatic impact on readership and viewership. YouTube, Facebook, and Google still stifle us. The freer speech platforms like Rumble and 𝕏 can only reward so many of their popular content creators. For independent journalists on the outside looking in, our only recourse is to rely on affiliates and sponsors.
But even as it seems nearly impossible to make a living, there are blessings that should not be disregarded. By highlighting strong sponsors who share our America First worldview, we have been able to make lifelong connections and even a bit of revenue to help us along. This is why we enjoy symbiotic relationships with companies like MyPillow, Jase Medical, and Promised Grounds. We help them with our recommendations and they reward us with money when our audience buys from them.
The same can be said about our preparedness sponsor, Prepper All-Naturals. Their long-term storage beef has a 25-year shelf life and is made with one ingredient: All-American Beef.
Even our faith-driven precious metals sponsor helps us tremendously while also helping Americans protect their life’s savings. We are blessed to work with them.
Independent media is the future. In many ways, that future is already here. While the phrase, “the more the merrier,” does not apply to this business because there are still some bad actors in the independent media field, there are many great ones that do not get nearly enough attention. We hope to change that one content creator at a time.
Thank you and God Bless,
JD Rucker
