WASHINGTON
– Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary
Committee is continuing to press the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on its
weak response to leaks of
protected taxpayer records to ProPublica. Grassley was joined by Sen. Mike
Crapo (R-Idaho), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee and Finance
Committee Republican members in a letter to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig
asking him to
continue conducting
oversight of the massive
data breach that was published by ProPublica.
The
letter comes nearly six months after ProPublica began publishing confidential,
private and legally-protected taxpayer information that it apparently obtained
from an unknown source. So far, the IRS and Biden Administration have shown
little regard toward the haphazard handling of private taxpayer data. ProPublica
unabatedly continues to publish articles naming individual taxpayers while the
IRS, the Department of the Treasury, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and
the Department of Justice have all failed to identify the source or sources of
the leaked information.
“[…]ProPublica continues to publish what appears to
be confidential taxpayer information that is protected by law, and as
Commissioner, you have been a proponent of the IRS being allowed access to even
more information from taxpayers and a significant and mandatory enforcement
budget. The fact that the source of the information ProPublica continues to
publish remains unknown means that the ability of the IRS to safeguard
information already entrusted to it also remains unknown. It is possible that ProPublica
obtained whatever information it has at one time from a specific source.
However, if the ProPublica information was leaked or hacked from the IRS, and
the IRS is unable to even determine if a leak or hack took place, this could
indicate an ongoing and persistent problem with IRS information technology (IT)
systems and the ability of the IRS to safeguard taxpayer information,” the senators wrote.
The
letter notes known deficiencies in IRS systems and highlights data and privacy
security vulnerabilities involved in contractor relationships. The senators
also request further, detailed information about the IRS’s efforts to determine
a source of the leaks, and what the IRS has done to resolve open
recommendations for curing deficiencies.
The
leak or hack of private taxpayer information and unauthorized disclosure to
advocates at ProPublica cannot be ignored or swept under the rug. The public
needs to know that personal information provided to the IRS remains
confidential, and not available for targeting or political agendas, especially
in light of current efforts to expand private information collection on
American taxpayers.
Full
text of the letter can be found HERE.