WASHINGTON – Following ProPublica’s publication of a “vast trove” of taxpayer information provided to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that appears to be confidential information and protected under federal law from disclosure, Senator Johnson (R-Wis.), along with Senators Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), and Ted Cruz (R-Texas), sent letters to the acting Treasury inspector general and the inspector general for tax administration to request a prompt investigation into how this IRS information was lost and to hold accountable any individuals who broke federal law in inappropriately sharing confidential tax information.
The full text of the letters can be found here and here, and excerpts are below.
“Taxpayers must have the utmost confidence in federal institutions that house their personal and confidential information,” the senators write in the letter to the Acting Treasury Inspector General. “Regrettably, American citizens have reason to be distrusting, having witnessed IRS personnel weaponize information in recent years for the purpose of targeting certain tax-exempt organizations for political reasons during the Obama administration.
“Regrettably, it appears personnel with access to American’s personal and confidential information are again misusing protected information for political reasons. Treasury and the IRS must hold accountable any and all individuals who broke federal law by inappropriately sharing the confidential tax information and tax returns of multiple Americans.”
