Washington,
D.C.–U.S.
Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Finance
Committee Republicans are asking the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for
information on a recent collaboration with the non-profit group Code for
America (CFA), a partnership aimed at helping Americans file for child tax
credits.
In
the letter, the members raise several concerns around security and privacy
protections, especially in light of the massive leak of private taxpayer
information from the IRS to ProPublica, and as Democrats seek to nearly double
funding for the IRS.
From
the letter:
“With
CFA’s evident increased presence in tax preparation activities and endorsement
of CFA by the federal government, it is essential that Congress obtain
documentation and knowledge that taxpayer privacy protections are not at
risk.
“In
light of an ongoing purported leak of IRS data to ProPublica that include
personally identifiable information and have been used for politicized
articles, and given that taxpayer information is supposed to be protected by
federal statute and enforcement, it is of utmost importance that privacy
protections are closely scrutinized.”
Finance
Committee Republicans signing the letter: Mike
Crapo (R-Idaho, Ranking Member), Chuck
Grassley (R-Iowa), John Cornyn (R-Texas), John
Thune (R-South Dakota), Richard
Burr (R-North Carolina), Rob
Portman (R-Ohio), Pat
Toomey (R-Pennsylvania), Bill
Cassidy (R-Louisiana), James
Lankford (R-Oklahoma), Todd
Young (R-Indiana), and John
Barrasso (R-Wyoming).
Read the letter here.