IRS Biggies Have No Business Collecting Big Bonuses

It's no secret that the federal government routinely operates with a certain level of disregard, even contempt, for the taxpayers who subsidize it. But it's indefensible when the tax collectors for the welfare state -- the IRS -- take that behavior to extremes. A review of the bonuses provided to several IRS figures implicated in various scandals, laid out by Rep. Mark Meadows, should outrage everyone who pays federal taxes.

First, there's Sarah Hall Ingram -- the woman who was in charge of the IRS tax-exempt organizations division of the IRS when the targeting scandal began, and is now the director of the IRS's ObamaCare office. In each of the fiscal years 2010, 2011, and 2012, she collected bonuses of $26,550 to $35,400, equalling 15 to 20 percent of her annual salary.

Then there's Fifth-Amendment-invoking Lois Lerner, who has been implicated in all the most egregious abuses of the targeting scandal (and who apparently illegally colluded with the FEC). Between 2006 and 2012, she pocketed a combined total of a cool $110,035 in bonuses.

Finally, don't forget Faris Fink, otherwise known as "Mr. Spock" in the hideously inappropriate IRS "Star Trek" video. Notwithstanding engaging in behavior in 2010 that warranted his apology, he received a $30,975 bonus that year. Between 2007 and 2012, he collected $149,506 in bonuses.

Every time President Obama or other Democrats whine about the GOP's efforts to short-change suffering Americans with some trifling cut to the size of the increase in a government program, remember these people and their bonuses. With unemployment at 7.5% and a national debt of $17 trillion, this is how the "managers" in DC see fit to spend your money.