Three years after the IRS was caught questionably scrutinizing tea party and other conservative groups’ applications for tax-exempt status, Congress has responded. Legislation passed by the House will bar the nation’s tax collector from requiring nonprofits to list donors on their tax returns.

For the many reasons why this law is warrant-ed, given the IRS’ intru-sive (if not illegal) snooping and scrutiny, the agency, itself, says it doesn’t need the information.

Nevertheless, the Obama administration and congressional Democrats oppose the measure, saying it would make it more difficult to police politically inclined nonprofits and foreign donors — which already fall under bank and campaign-finance laws.

Then there’s the IRS’s own poor record in securing this information. That cost taxpayers $50,000 in a court settlement when the IRS “inadvertently” released information about contributors to the National Organization for Marriage, The Wall Street Journal reports.

“This bill helps ensure that Americans can never again be singled out by the IRS for their political beliefs,” says Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. And for now, the White House isn’t issuing a veto threat.

The IRS clubbed itself over the head when it targeted conservative groups. The measure to ban nonprofit donor lists on tax returns whittles what’s become an overbearing cudgel.

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