The ousted chief of the Internal Revenue Service, Steven Miller, told the House Ways and Means Committee that his agency made errors in targeting conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status, but he says the mistakes were not the result of partisan views.
"I want to apologize on behalf of the Internal Revenue Service for the mistakes that we made and the poor service that we provided," said IRS acting commissioner Steven Miller, who resigned on Wednesday. "The affected organizations and the American public deserve better."
Revelations surfaced last week from an inspector general report that found IRS officials used inappropriate criteria for 18 months, such as flagging the names of groups that included "tea party" or "patriots," for additional scrutiny.
"Partisanship or even the appearance of partisanship has no place at the IRS," Miller said. "I do not believe that partisanship motivated the people who engaged in the practices."
"I think that what happened here was that foolish mistakes were made by people trying to be more efficient in their work load selection," he continued. "The listing described in the report, while intolerable, was a mistake, and not an act of partisanship."
