HELENA — About a half-dozen tea party activists have gathered outside the federal building in Helena to protest IRS scrutiny of conservative groups and to warn that the agency could target other organizations next.
The protest was one of several taking place at IRS locations across the nation Tuesday.
Big Sky Tea Party Association Ed Arganbright says everybody should be outraged by the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting certain conservative groups. Arganbright says if the IRS can do it to the tea party, it can do it to other groups of different political stripes.
He and the others held signs saying “Stop IRS Targeting” and “Audit the IRS.”
IRS officials have acknowledged that some conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status were screened through searches for terms that include “tea party” and “patriot.”