The top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee has requested a review of the Internal Revenue Service’s security practices after thousands of pages of classified tax documents were released to the media.
Mike Crapo of Idaho requested a review by the Government Accountability Office of the IRS’s data security practices, procedures, and methods. The letter, addressed to Comptroller Gene Dodaro, says that the apparent leak warrants increased government oversight given the scale of the issue.
The letter comes after investigative nonprofit organization ProPublica released details about the tax returns of thousands of the nation’s wealthiest people, a leak so expansive it covered some 15 years.
“Whether private, legally-protected, and personal information was first obtained and shared with ProPublica by actors internal or external to the IRS, there appear to be gaps in the data security measures at the IRS,” Crapo wrote. “It is important to understand and evaluate how the IRS collects, stores, uses, and protects taxpayers’ data, and any gaps or deficiencies in its possibly porous safeguards, in order to prevent any violation of Americans’ privacy from happening again.”
BILLIONAIRE TAX LEAK DEALS BIDEN BLOW IN GETTING GOP SUPPORT FOR IRS FUNDING
Crapo requested that the GAO review IRS protections for taxpayer information and the procedures in place for giving IRS employees and private contractors access to taxpayer information.
He additionally asked for information about any gaps or deficiencies in policy that would have increased the likelihood of a breach, information about IRS encryption policies, and data about how long tax information is stored and how the IRS determines when to dispose of that information.
The ProPublica article was a lightning rod of attention for the IRS, which President Joe Biden is hoping to beef up by giving it more authority and infusing it with billions of dollars to hire more auditors. Democrats pointed to the fact that several of the country’s wealthiest people pay little or no federal income taxes, and Republicans have seized on the leak itself in order to push back on calls for increased IRS funding.
Crapo told the Washington Examiner last week that after the tax leak, changes to IRS funding must be preceded by guarantees that taxpayer data is, in fact, secure.
“This data breach comes at a time when the administration is proposing additional funding for the IRS to massively and intrusively expand its access to data on individuals and companies,” he said in a statement. “Taxpayers should be incredibly concerned about this breach, because if this information can ‘leak,’ anyone’s can.”
Last week, Republicans in the House called for Biden administration officials to testify in Congress about the IRS tax records that were apparently leaked. GOP Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, asked Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney of New York to hold a hearing to investigate who was responsible for the disclosures.
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The White House wants to allocate $80 billion to the IRS to hire more staff in order to crack down on wealthy tax cheats. The administration has claimed that it can raise some $700 billion in revenue over the next decade through its plan. The proposal would additionally require banks to report annual account inflows and outflows, increasing the sensitive info that the IRS has access to.
The treasury inspector general for tax administration is leading an investigation into the IRS leak.
