American IRS Brand: Can It Win Back The Trust?
On the 10th of May, Lois Lerner, Director of the IRS Exempt Organizations Division Committee disclosed a shocking news in a meeting that between 2010 and 2012 they started receiving more than the expected number of 501(c)(4) applications.
Most of which were "favored" by the employees of the IRS who according to him centralized work on those applications for efficiency and consistency.
It just happened that most of the groups who applied were Tea Party and conservative groups.
On 14th May the Inspector General himself has confirmed that the so-called "centralization" was totally based on criteria which were "inappropriate.
" The White House however has a different story to tell.
It's advocates continue to give the shoddy justification that all this political targeting is a result of genuine efforts of the IRS which were aiming to cope up with a "remarkable influx of applications.
" But the problem, however, is the own records of Internal Revenue Services which are maintained by its own employees, which show that the number of applications for tax-exemption have never increased and in fact, their number has declined.
Being an expert and avid follower of this field I find it hard to buy what is being advocated by team Obama and White House.
The main reason being what the records tell is contrary to the impression given by them.
As per records, a total of 87,638 applications were received for tax-exempt status under (c)(4) and (c)(3) groups in 2007.
This optimum score in the number of applications is declined by 38% and the numbers now came down to 54,522 applications in 2012.
So the questions arise are where comes the so-called "remarkable influx of applications" that left the IRS flooded with applications in 2010? What was the reason that led some employees of IRS to the targeting of Tea Party and conservative groups as an efficiency measure? Where is the so-called very big uptick? Even the White House was concerned about this and the President himself assured that the people responsible for the wrong doings will be held accountable and right information will be brought back to the books.
For this, a 30 day review by a brand new official was ordered by the IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel which stated "there were no signs of any intentional wrong doings.
" I personally disagree with the findings because, how can a review headed by a new commissioner can clear the entire agency from all the allegations in 30 days? and answer all the unanswered questions which were found after a careful study and research conducted by the IRS's inspector general himself? Team Obama is known for its remarkable discipline and message coordination.
Fine, but, what can be done when same prevarications are spouted by one and all? It is bound to undermine the credibility of all involved in delivering it and the administration's defense too.
Repairing the damage done to the image of IRS will not be an easy task.
To add to its misery IRS is not a beloved brand as I said before.
Paul Argenti, a professor of corporate communication at the Tuck school of Business says, "IRS stand for a whole lot of things that people don't feel good about.
" But to be fair IRS have been over burdened and its commissioners has often argued that IRS does not have the required resources to do much about its brand and this agency needs better funding along with an incremental increase in the staff.
But now as the damage has been done it needs to find ways to overcome it.
It needs to figure out what went wrong and needs to act more responsibly to prove its credibility once again to the public.
It needs self assessment and self-realization.
If they try to start doing things the way they are supposed to, they can surely bounce back and restore their level of confidence along with the faith and trust of the public which they enjoyed prior to the event.
Having said that, the government is also responsible for what has happened in some or the other way.
When it should find a way to stabilize and restore the public confidence in IRS, it is shying away from its responsibilities.
The people of America deserve and demand accountability from their government, not for being subjected to any extra scrutiny for reasons which are in no way related to the content of their filing.
They need assurance form the administration as well as IRS that, such abuses will never take place again.
This is the only way to regain the lost trust in this administration by the Americans.
Most of which were "favored" by the employees of the IRS who according to him centralized work on those applications for efficiency and consistency.
It just happened that most of the groups who applied were Tea Party and conservative groups.
On 14th May the Inspector General himself has confirmed that the so-called "centralization" was totally based on criteria which were "inappropriate.
" The White House however has a different story to tell.
It's advocates continue to give the shoddy justification that all this political targeting is a result of genuine efforts of the IRS which were aiming to cope up with a "remarkable influx of applications.
" But the problem, however, is the own records of Internal Revenue Services which are maintained by its own employees, which show that the number of applications for tax-exemption have never increased and in fact, their number has declined.
Being an expert and avid follower of this field I find it hard to buy what is being advocated by team Obama and White House.
The main reason being what the records tell is contrary to the impression given by them.
As per records, a total of 87,638 applications were received for tax-exempt status under (c)(4) and (c)(3) groups in 2007.
This optimum score in the number of applications is declined by 38% and the numbers now came down to 54,522 applications in 2012.
So the questions arise are where comes the so-called "remarkable influx of applications" that left the IRS flooded with applications in 2010? What was the reason that led some employees of IRS to the targeting of Tea Party and conservative groups as an efficiency measure? Where is the so-called very big uptick? Even the White House was concerned about this and the President himself assured that the people responsible for the wrong doings will be held accountable and right information will be brought back to the books.
For this, a 30 day review by a brand new official was ordered by the IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel which stated "there were no signs of any intentional wrong doings.
" I personally disagree with the findings because, how can a review headed by a new commissioner can clear the entire agency from all the allegations in 30 days? and answer all the unanswered questions which were found after a careful study and research conducted by the IRS's inspector general himself? Team Obama is known for its remarkable discipline and message coordination.
Fine, but, what can be done when same prevarications are spouted by one and all? It is bound to undermine the credibility of all involved in delivering it and the administration's defense too.
Repairing the damage done to the image of IRS will not be an easy task.
To add to its misery IRS is not a beloved brand as I said before.
Paul Argenti, a professor of corporate communication at the Tuck school of Business says, "IRS stand for a whole lot of things that people don't feel good about.
" But to be fair IRS have been over burdened and its commissioners has often argued that IRS does not have the required resources to do much about its brand and this agency needs better funding along with an incremental increase in the staff.
But now as the damage has been done it needs to find ways to overcome it.
It needs to figure out what went wrong and needs to act more responsibly to prove its credibility once again to the public.
It needs self assessment and self-realization.
If they try to start doing things the way they are supposed to, they can surely bounce back and restore their level of confidence along with the faith and trust of the public which they enjoyed prior to the event.
Having said that, the government is also responsible for what has happened in some or the other way.
When it should find a way to stabilize and restore the public confidence in IRS, it is shying away from its responsibilities.
The people of America deserve and demand accountability from their government, not for being subjected to any extra scrutiny for reasons which are in no way related to the content of their filing.
They need assurance form the administration as well as IRS that, such abuses will never take place again.
This is the only way to regain the lost trust in this administration by the Americans.
Source...