In my NRO piece today:
In November of 2009, in the midst of Solyndra’s downward financial spiral, the Internal Revenue Service issued a ruling that granted special tax favors to the firm and its customers.
The “private letter” ruling involving Solyndra, though widely discussed among tax lawyers, commented upon within the solar-power community, and even flaunted by Solyndra itself, has received little attention in the mainstream media. A former IRS official told National Review that the ruling raises a red flag about political interference in the tax system. The source, who was not directly involved in the case, says that politicians have increased their lobbying for private-letter rulings on behalf of individual taxpayers ever since the Democrats took over Congress in 2007. Congressional investigators of the Solyndra scandal say they are aware of the tax angle, but have not had time to delve into it, as they are too busy unsnarling the specifics of the controversial $535 million loan to the company, as well as billions in similar loans to other companies.
Read on here.