WASHINGTON -- Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) was astounded on Wednesday when former IRS commissioner Doug Shulman said he did not know how Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) obtained information on Mitt Romney's taxes during the 2012 election.
The controversy arose in July 2012, when Reid told The Huffington Post that he knew why Romney was refusing to release additional tax returns; Reid said he heard from a Bain Capital investor that Romney "didn't pay any taxes for 10 years." The senator never revealed the name of his source.
During a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on Wednesday, however, Gosar suspected foul play within the IRS.
"Do you know how Mr. Reid obtained that information? Did you look into this?" he asked Shulman.
Shulman stumbled, then said, "I have no idea."
"Doesn't that alarm you that all of a sudden, this pertinent information comes up, and you're the head of this agency, and you're not asking questions? Shame on you. Absolutely shame on you," Gosar responded.
Romney, for the record, denied that Reid's claim was accurate.
The IRS has been under fire in recent days not only for giving closer scrutiny to conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status but also for leaking confidential applications from those groups to the media outlet ProPublica.
Gosar used the Reid example as further evidence of an IRS leak, although there is no evidence that Reid obtained any information about Romney from the IRS.
Reid spokesman Adam Jentleson recently told the Daily Caller, "[T]he IRS did not leak Romney’s tax returns to Senator Reid.”
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