IRS Breached Privacy Law Thousands of Times, Court Finds
A federal judge has ruled that the IRS violated privacy laws by improperly sharing confidential taxpayer data with immigration authorities, a major breach of public trust.
In a significant legal ruling, a federal judge has determined that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) broke privacy laws on roughly 42,695 occasions by sharing confidential taxpayer data with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. The decision represents a major violation of the public's trust and raises serious concerns about the government's handling of sensitive personal information.
The case stems from a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which alleged that the IRS systematically provided ICE with taxpayer information without proper legal authorization. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta agreed with the ACLU's arguments, finding that the IRS breached its own code of conduct and violated the Taxpayer First Act, which strictly limits the circumstances under which the agency can disclose private tax data.
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In his scathing ruling, Judge Mehta lambasted the IRS for its
Source: Al Jazeera
