The Senator of Potterville Is Pissed

Hmm, when small businesses don’t read the fine print and get penalized, Republicans get all medieval about in — in a Senate sort of way. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley (R) is going to hold up several Treasury Department nominees because he wants leniency on tax evaders and lawbreakers reports CQ Politics.

Grassley and other lawmakers have been trying for months to win leniency for small businesses, some of which purchased benefits packages that included IRS-targeted tax shelters and were then subjected to penalties of $100,000 per person and $200,000 per corporation. The companies say they were not told by the sellers of the benefits packages that the plans had been identified by the IRS as abusive transactions.