Sen. Chuck Grassley, ranking member of the Committee on Finance, today made the
following comment on a new report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration,
“The Internal Revenue Service Is Not Adequately Protecting Taxpayer Data on Laptop Computers
and Other Portable Electronic Media Devices," Reference No. 2007-20-048, available at
www.tigta.gov.
“Thieves are very good at mining sensitive data for their own end. One stolen IRS laptop
could put thousands of taxpayers in jeopardy. It’s hard to see why this is still a problem when the
IRS knew about it more than three years ago. A Finance Committee hearing next week will look
at identity theft and fraudulent tax returns. I plan to ask what the IRS is doing to fix this problem
for good."
