IRS considers giving data to other agencies

[MaineDem]

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2003/09/25/irs_considers_giving_data_to_other_agencies/

WASHINGTON -- The Internal Revenue Service is exploring ways to share names, addresses, birth dates, employee records, and other taxpayer information with law-enforcement agencies, particularly the Immigration and Naturalization Service, according to legislative aides and senior tax attorneys.

Aides said any such move, though taken in the name of national security, could violate the spirit if not the letter of US nondisclosure laws. These privacy rules were first established in the mid-1970s as part of an overhaul of the tax code after the Nixon White House used IRS records to intimidate its enemies.

While the decision to reexamine this part of the tax code, known as section 6103, comes from IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson, it is unclear whether the idea originated with Everson or whether it is part of some larger security initiative. The proposal has, however, raised privacy and legal concerns among congressional staffers as well as former IRS officials. "There is a difficult balance between the requirements of confidentiality and questions of national security, and we've been reviewing these issues with the IRS," said Christin Tinsworth, communications director of the House Ways and Means committee.In recent weeks IRS officials have approached the committee for discussions on how certain confidentiality laws could be reinterpreted to expedite the sharing of taxpayer records with the Justice Department, the FBI, INS, and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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Whaaaat??? "Reinterpreted"?

[indepat]

1. Will identity theft then become endemic, no

pandemic?

[sandnsea]

2. Supposed to be private

You used to have a separate tax number to file your income taxes, your social security number could only be used in connection with SSI. It was promised that your social security number would NEVER be used as a tracking number. It shouldn't be used for income taxes, credit, and certainly not as a tracking method for the FBI. I am so tired of people just turning over their privacy rights to the federal government.