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New bill would boost penalties on IRS lawbreakers
By:Ginger Gibson
May 13, 2013 05:20 AM EDT

In the wake of an admission by an IRS official that conservative groups had been targeted for additional scrutiny, Rep. Michael Turner will introduce legislation Monday that would increase the penalty for singling out ideological organizations —including the possibility of jail time.

Turner, a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said news about the IRS is an example of abuse of government power.

“Across the country, people are appalled to learn the IRS targeted people because of their political beliefs,” the Ohio Republican told POLITICO. “These are issues of basic rights of expression.”

He added, “This is an issue of whether or not authority has been abused in the government. They were doing this for all the wrong reasons.”

Turner’s bill would expressly prohibit an IRS employee from discriminating against a group or individual based on protected statuses. It also expressly states that political speech and expression are protected statuses and protect all political speech from being targeted by the IRS — not just that of conservative groups.

IRS employees are already prohibited from discriminating in the course of the work, but the highest level of punishment is termination. Under Turner’s law, the penalty would be increased to a fine up to $5,000, five years in prison or both.

The increased sanctions are in line with the current sanctions for an administration official who directs employees to do the same thing.

On Friday, an IRS official acknowledged that the agency flagged 75 conservative groups for extra review because their names included “tea party” or “patriot.”

Republicans have vowed to hold hearings and conducted more extensive investigations.

Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said his committee will hold hearings and suggested that the IRS was leaking the information ahead of an inspector general’s report scheduled to be later this week that he anticipates will contain evidence that top IRS officials knew about the targeted reviews.

During the 2012 election, conservative groups began complaining that they were being targeted for review.

The IRS released a statement in response to the most recent accusations saying former IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman had not been aware of the details when he testified before Congress in March 2012 and denied that the groups were targeted for their political leanings.

Turner’s bill will likely be referred to the Judiciary Committee.