Check out the controversies section on <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Internal_Revenue_Service#Controversies" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Internal_Revenue_Service#Contr...</a><p>Here&#x27;s a little bit from it:<p>&gt; In 2013, the IRS became embroiled in a political scandal in which it was discovered that the agency subjected conservative or conservative-sounding groups filing for tax-exempt status to extra scrutiny.[56]<p>&gt; On September 5, 16 months after the scandal first erupted, a Senate Subcommittee released a report that confirmed that Internal Revenue Service used inappropriate criteria to target Tea Party groups, but found no evidence of political bias.[57] The chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations confirmed that while the actions were &quot;inappropriate, intrusive, and burdensome,&quot; the Democrats have often experienced similar treatment.[58] Republicans noted that 83% of the groups being held up by the IRS were right-leaning; and the Subcommittee Minority staff, which did not join the Majority staff report, filed a dissenting report entitled, “IRS Targeting Tea Party Groups.” [59]<p>The shenanigans happened in the run-up to the 2012 elections.  The &quot;extra scrutiny&quot; was basically stonewalling, delays, and creepy investigations into personal lives of individuals in the groups that were filing for tax-exempt status.  If I recall correctly, when you had &quot;Tea&quot; or &quot;Patriot&quot; in the name of your organization, your application automatically got forwarded to a dedicated abuse squad at IRS.  Tea parties had trouble organizing due to these tactics because they couldn&#x27;t fundraise.