Editor's note: This is another in a series of "WND/WENZEL POLLS" conducted exclusively for WND by the public-opinion research and media consulting company Wenzel Strategies.
A majority of Americans say that the Internal Revenue Service as it exists now should be abolished, including more than one third of the Democrats, three quarters of the Republicans and two in three independents, according to a new poll.
"There has been in recent years a growing call for massive tax simplification in America, as we grow less and less competitive with other economies around the world in part because of the increasing burden of taxes and tax compliance," said Fritz Wenzel, whose Wenzel Strategies conducted the poll.
"Whatever form such reform might take, 60 percent of respondents said they believe it is time to simply abolish the IRS in its current form. This is not a surprising finding, given that the IRS is perhaps the least popular agency of the federal government, but it is perhaps higher than it might otherwise be because the element of political influence has been overtly injected in the agency and it has now admitted its own participation in targeting certain Americans simply because of their political philosophy. There are few more chilling threats against the American public."
The telephone survey was done June 27-July 1 and has a margin of error of 3.25 percentage points.
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The IRS recently has admitted targeting conservative and Christian organizations applying for tax status. Some applications simply were left unaddressed for months, even years. In other instances, conservatives were confronted with invasive questions such as about the content of members' prayers, their relatives, their statements and even what they may say in the future.
As a result, many of the conservative organizations on the sidelines for the 2012 election, won by Obama.
Since then, while the IRS has admitted wrongdoing, no one has faced significant punishment, and the White House repeatedly has said Obama knew nothing about it and wasn't involved. The IRS originally tried to blame the nationwide program on a couple of low-level employees in the Cincinnati office, a claim later undermined by the IRS itself.
Not that this sits well with respondents nationwide – as Americans are apparently livid that IRS employees are able to refuse to testify before Congress, which is charged by the U.S. Constitution with oversight of such agencies. Seven in 10 respondents said they agree any federal employees should be immediately terminated if they refuse to testify before Congress.
And the public continues to have doubts about Washington's ability to police itself.
"Such is the depth of American skepticism about whether any government officials will be held accountable for this scandal that 64 percent said they consider it not at all likely that any IRS employee will face charges over their actions stemming from the targeting of conservative political groups," Wenzel said.
The poll also showed a supermajority – 71 percent – believe the IRS should be banned from any involvement in Obamacare. The health care law makes the IRS responsible for verifying that consumers have "approved" insurance coverage. Then there also will be the fines, penalties, taxes, payments and other fees, levies and assessments that are included in Obamacare.
See detailed results of survey questions:
Do you agree or disagree that the IRS in its current form should be abolished?