WASHINGTON DC (KOLO) – Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto is demanding answers amid allegations the DHS and DOGE have requested access to sensitive taxpayer information.
She and Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) led 15 other Senate Democrats in sending a letter to Trump administration officials alleging the Department of Government Efficiency illegally requested sensitive taxpayer information from the IRS.
“We write about alarming reports that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has asked for unprecedented access to private taxpayer data from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS),” wrote the Senators. “Elon Musk and his associates at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have also reportedly sought to cross-reference taxpayer data with sensitive personal data held by other agencies that provide public benefits.”
Cortez Masto cited a Washington Post report accusing the DHS of asking the IRS to hand over home addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses of more than 700,000 people in an attempt to target what Cortez Masto calls undocumented immigrants.
Calling it an unlawful move, Cortez Masto says the move would target taxpayers.
“In addition to violating tax privacy laws, the wholesale sharing of tax return information with DHS or DOGE, as described in the press, would also penalize individuals for complying with federal tax law and undermine the IRS’s core mission of tax collection by reducing voluntary tax compliance,” continued the Senators. “According to official government data, millions of taxpayers who do not have a social security number file their taxes with the IRS each year using an individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN), including many undocumented individuals. Such voluntary tax compliance depends on trust that the IRS will keep taxpayer data confidential.”
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