Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus were expected Thursday to call for the impeachment of IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, who Republicans have criticized for failing to reform the embattled agency that admitted to slow-walking requests for tax-exempt status from conservative groups.
A spokesman for the Freedom Caucus said the group’s chairman, Rep Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and several other members will come to the House floor Thursday evening to call on Republicans to begin impeachment proceedings against Koskinen, who has served as IRS commissioner since December 2013.
House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, introduced an impeachment resolution last fall but the House Judiciary Committee has not taken it up.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., signaled Thursday that he wasn’t supporting a move to impeach Koskinen. Instead, he said, a Republican White House next year could pick their own IRS chief.
“What I think we need to do is win an election,” Ryan said. “Get better people in these agencies and reform the tax code so we’re not harassing the average taxpayer with a tax code they can’t even understand.”
Ryan was very critical of the IRS, which has not only been accused of targeting conservatives, but also of cutting back on customer service and failing to protect tax filers from hackers. Koskinen was appointed after an internal IRS watchdog report found that conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status were being singled out for extra attention. Since his arrival, Koskinen has faced much of the same intense criticism from the GOP-led House has his predecessors.
“I think that the IRS is not being led well,” Ryan said. “I think the IRS misled Americans. I think the IRS is not on top of their game with respect to preventing hacking from occurring in the future, cyber theft. This is a problem. But I also think the IRS is implementing a horrible tax code and I think the real solution at the end of the day is comprehensive tax reform,” which Republicans are working on.
