And he’s outta here!
Earlier today, Acting Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Steven T. Miller offered his resignation to President Obama. The resignation was issued amid a scandal that has plagued the IRS in recent days – and put the Obama administration in clear scramble mode. There have been calls for criminal charges (though for what is not yet clear) and demands for investigations into confirmed reports that the IRS improperly targeted certain applications for tax-exempt status based on keywords and politically charged language.
Miller announced plans to leave next month to IRS employees, saying:
Dear Colleagues:
It is with regret that I will be departing from the IRS as my acting assignment ends in early June. This has been an incredibly difficult time for the IRS given the events of the past few days, and there is a strong and immediate need to restore public trust in the nation’s tax agency. I believe the Service will benefit from having a new Acting Commissioner in place during this challenging period. As I wrap up my time at the IRS, I will be focused on an orderly transition.
While I recognize that much work needs to be done to restore faith in the IRS, I don’t want anyone to lose sight of the fact that the IRS is comprised of incredibly dedicated and hard-working public servants. During my 25-year IRS career, I am profoundly proud to have worked alongside you and to be part of an institution that has worked hard to support the nation. I have strong confidence in the IRS leadership team to continue the important work of our agency.
I want to thank everyone for all of their support and friendship during my career in government service. And I especially want to thank each and every one of you for your continued commitment to the nation’s taxpayers.
Steve
While I’ll admit that the timing of the resignation threw me off, the move didn’t. Those in positions of power have been calling for his head – heck, anyone’s head – since the story was made public last week. Notwithstanding the fact that Miller happened to be in charge when the accusations flew, there was a more damning fact: it has been reported that, in May 2012, former Commissioner Doug Shulman was briefed about the then-percolating scandal. Miller was said to have learned about it at roughly the same time.
The controversy about who knew what and when led Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) to write a strongly worded letter to Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew, calling for Miller’s resignation earlier this week. Or sort of. Sen. Rubio took a lot of flak for his statement that “it is clear the IRS cannot operate with even a shred of the American people’s confidence under the current leadership. Therefore, I strongly urge that you and President Obama demand the IRS Commissioner’s resignation, effectively [sic] immediately.” Here’s the rub: Miller isn’t exactly the Commissioner. He’s the Acting Commissioner. There hasn’t been an actual Commissioner since Bush appointee Doug Shulman resigned in November following a five-year stint. I know, it’s semantics, but it’s important semantics. Those in positions of power should make an effort to get the facts straight – or at least have a fact-checker to do it for them.
As for Miller? He’ll be okay. I suspect he didn’t have aspirations of making Commissioner. Historically, the Acting Commissioner does not accede to be Commissioner, with most acting only a few months (believe it or not, a few have only held the position for a couple of days).
This is the first public hand slapping since the scandal was made public. You can bet that it won’t be the last.
