A Washington-based "small but dedicated group of Americans" said last week it is seeking IRS records following a leak of "the Tax Secrets of the .001%" late last spring that government agencies haven't since said much about.
In a press release Friday, Functional Government Initiative referred to the "unauthorized leak of sensitive financial information of wealthy American citizens to ProPublica," a leak that resulted in a ProPublica story in June. That now eight-month-old ProPublica report "raised questions around the integrity and controls in place to prevent abuses at the Service," the group said in a press release.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen
| treasury.gov/
"The Functional Government Initiative is seeking a range of records from the and related agencies as the nation's tax collector is requesting a significant expansion of taxing and enforcement authority through its budget and personnel," the press release said. "The full analysis and economic reasoning behind the agency’s recent proposals remain hidden from public view, and it is unclear whether it would yield the benefits claimed by senior officials."
Functional Government Initiative describes itself as "a small but dedicated group of Americans who care about improving people’s lives through education, research, and ultimately shining a spotlight on the actions of the federal government. We believe our work can inspire public policy that builds a solid infrastructure for a bright American future."
In the only other press release posted to its website, the initiative said it is investigating "an attempted 'Hostile Takeover' of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation."
Functional Government Initiative's more recent press release came about eight months after ProPublica released IRS tax data for the nation's wealthiest under the headline "Why We Are Publishing the Tax Secrets of the .001%."
"We are disclosing the tax details of the richest Americans because we believe the public interest in an informed debate outweighs privacy considerations," ProPublica said. ProPublica claimed in the same news story that it had gotten the information from "an anonymous source who provided us with large amounts of information on the ultrawealthy, everything from the taxes they paid to the income they reported to the profits from their stock trades."
ProPublica admitted in its news story that it does "not know for certain" the identity of the person who provided the information, or whether the information is true.
In another news story published the same day, ProPublica said it had "obtained a vast trove of Internal Revenue Service data on the tax returns of thousands of the nation's wealthiest people, covering more than 15 years," and alleged wealthy taxpayers pay little to no income tax.
Releasing tax returns without authorization, with few exceptions, is a federal crime, according to information on the service's website.
Later that month, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland told a Senate committee that investigating the leak to ProPublica would be "at the top of my list."
"Senator, I take this as seriously as you do," Garland said in response to a question by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing. "I very well remember what President [Richard] Nixon did in the Watergate period — the creation of enemies lists and the punishment of people through reviewing their tax returns. This is an extremely serious matter. People are entitled, obviously, to great privacy with respect to their tax returns."
At about the same time, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also said during a Senate hearing that the matter is "very serious."
"This was a very serious situation, and I and the Treasury Department take very seriously the protection of government data," Yellen said at the time.
Neither Yellen nor Garland have since said anything publicly about the matter. A search of the U.S. Justice Department's website turned up no updates on any investigation about the leak.
The DOJ declined to comment to DOJ Newswire this week.
The leak of confidential taxpayer information is not the only privacy concern facing the IRS as it seeks to expand efforts to increase tax collections. Concerns across the political spectrum arose after the IRS announced an $86 million effort with ID.me to use biometric data.
The Wall Street Journal, in a Feb. 4 editorial, referred to the leak to ProPublica and said, "The agency hasn’t explained the data breach, and it simply can’t be trusted to safeguard biometric data."
Functional Government Initiative, in its press release, agreed with the Wall Street Journal's assessment, referring to the IRS as "one of the most powerful and mysterious agencies of the U.S. government." The ProPublica leak has "left the public even more skeptical about whether a core piece of its government was functioning properly," the press release said.
"Combined with a legislative proposal to dramatically expand its power and budget, many Americans are right to be concerned about what's going on behind the scenes," the press release continued. "The Functional Government Initiative exists to do exactly this. We will report back what we find out."
