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Despite the repeated denials and righteous indignation, what many suspected turned out to be true: The IRS under the Obama administration targeted groups for their conservative political views.

It’s something that should concern all Americans, because they should be just as worried about an IRS under President Trump being tempted to do the same thing to different political victims.

And for that reason, Americans deserve more than the IRS apology that comes as part of a settlement in which the powerful agency that strikes fear into the hearts of audit-wary taxpayers – “the taxman cometh” – admits that it sidelined the nonprofit applications of more than 40 local groups such as the Albuquerque Tea Party or any group anywhere with the word “Patriot” in its title.

The federal agency and the Justice Department settled two lawsuits, one involving the payment of a substantial amount of money, over the agency’s track record of both delaying the tax-exempt status requests of such groups and singling some out for additional tax scrutiny.

When the supposedly nonpartisan IRS operates as it should, an application for tax-exempt status usually takes three to six months. In these cases, it took years. In the case of the Albuquerque Tea Party, it took eight years.

This conduct was truly Orwellian, and there should be zero tolerance.

The Albuquerque Tea Party was among the first to challenge the IRS. While not part of the suit that resulted in the monetary payments, its officials are pleased with the result.

“We basically got what we wanted,” said Graham Bartlett, the Albuquerque Tea Party president. “Which is to make sure the IRS does not do this to anybody else – not just conservative groups but anybody else. The government can’t bully us around just because of our political thinking.”

There was no prosecution as the FBI, predictably, found incompetence and poor judgment but no criminal conduct. While that conclusion is suspect, it’s understandable: Then-FBI Director James Comey and then-U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch knew whom they worked for – meaning the high-ranking IRS official at the center of the controversy, Lois Lerner, essentially got a free pass.

Perhaps not surprisingly, there was virtual silence from Congress, including New Mexico’s delegation, on the IRS admission.

That’s unfortunate, because Congress needs to step up, speak up and make sure this doesn’t happen again. To anybody.

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.