This March 5, 2014 file photo shows former Internal Revenue Service (IRS) official Lois Lerner on Capitol Hill in Washington. IRS employees erased computer backup tapes a month after officials discovered that thousands of emails related to the tax agency's tea party scandal had been lost, according to government investigators. (AP)
Paz had served as Lerner’s deputy during the Obama administration.
In 2013, it was revealed that the IRS, under Lerner, had wrongfully scrutinized tax-exempt applications related to the phrases "Tea Party," "9/12" and "Constitution." The Treasury’s inspector general later confirmed "inappropriate criteria" were used to target conservative groups and criticized ineffective oversight of systemic bias.
The IRS reportedly spent more than two years targeting conservative tax-exempt groups.
Paz reviewed and helped oversee the handling of tax-exempt applications, and has been described as a key link between the Cincinnati, Ohio IRS office where the screenings of applications took place and the IRS headquarters.
US investor and hedge fund manager Scott Bessent testifies before a Senate Finance Committee hearing on his nomination to be Secretary of the Treasury, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 16, 2025. (Getty)
In a 2017 settlement, the IRS offered an apology, saying the agency "admits that its treatment of Plaintiffs during the tax-exempt determination process, including screening their applications based on their names or policy positions, subjecting those applications to heightened scrutiny and inordinate delays, and demanding some Plaintiffs’ information that TIGTA determined was unnecessary to the agency’s determination of their tax-exempt status, was wrong."
"For such treatment, the IRS expresses its sincere apology," the IRS said at the time.
While the Treasury Department did not comment on the move to fire Paz, it represents the latest step in Secretary Scott Bessent’s efforts to "de-weaponize" the IRS in his role as acting commissioner.
Fox News Digital has learned that Bessent has been working closely with Hunter Biden whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, and has met several times with IRS leadership.
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Sources told Fox News Digital that Bessent and IRS officials are working to improve customer service and outcomes for American taxpayers. They are also working to streamline technical improvements, and cut back on bloated hiring from the Biden administration.
Fox News Digital's Charles Creitz contributed to this report.
Brooke Singman is a political correspondent and reporter for Fox News Digital, Fox News Channel and FOX Business.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/irs-fires-top-aide-linked-lois-lerner-tea-party-targeting-scandal