The IRS has long been a thorn in the side of many Americans. The signs continue that the IRS is getting worse and will likely sink to new lows of vindictive targeting.  Just ask Chuck Heath, Sr. (Sarah Palin’s father), Dr. Ben Carson, Franklin Graham and many other conservatives and conservative groups.

Several days ago, Chuck Heath, Jr., Sarah Palin’s brother, posted the following on his Facebook page:

Coincidence?  You decide.

My father, who worked multiple jobs and faithfully and honestly paid his taxes for fifty years, had never heard a word from the IRS.  In 2008, his daughter was tapped to run for vice president of the United States.  Since that time, he has been, in his words “horribly harassed” six times by the agency. They’ve tried to dig up something on him but he’s always operated above board.

Government and politics are ugly.  Kudos to the few that are trying to clean it up.

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?  Remember a few months ago when Dr. Ben Carson talked about being targeted by the IRS?  Carson’s trouble with the IRS came after he shared a dais with Barack Obama last February and did not give the President the fawning adoration Obama expected.  Instead, Carson talked of better alternatives to Obamacare.  It wasn’t surprising that immediately afterwards,  the IRS decided to audit his tax returns.  Like with Chuck Heath, Sr., no wrongdoing was found.  The fact that there was no reason to audit either of them did not stop the IRS from doing their best to find some dirt.

“I guess it could be a coincidence, but I never had been audited before and never really had any encounters with the IRS,” Dr. Carson said in an interview.  “But it certainly would make one suspicious because we know now the IRS has been used for political purposes and therefore actions like this come under suspicion.”

That the IRS has been used for political purposes was brought to light when it was revealed that conservative groups had been targeted.  And not only groups but individuals like Franklin Graham and Christine O’Donnell.

Back in June, the IRS Inspector General admitted that tea party groups were subjected to invasive queries much more often than liberal groups.

. . . Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russell George said that just 30 percent of groups with the word “progressive” in their name were put through special scrutiny for tax-exempt applications, but 100 percent of groups with ‘tea party,” “patriot” or “9/12” in their names were subjected to invasive questioning.

Despite these findings, no criminal charges will be filed against the IRS for targeting conservative groups.

The official line is that the FBI didn’t find political bias or “enemy hunting” which would justify filing charges against the agency.  The FBI insists that the IRS was simply a mismanaged bureaucracy enforcing rules it did not understand.

Sorry, Chuck Heath, Sr., with this particular administration, it appears that there are few protections for those who disagree with it.  Revenge politics strike again.