Leak of billionaires’ tax data draws GOP outcry over privacy

WASHINGTON — Republicans in Congress are alarmed by the leak of confidential IRS data to the investigative news organization ProPublica, enabling it to reveal that famous billionaires including Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg paid little in U.S. income tax at times. Treasury and the IRS must hold accountable any and all individuals who broke federal law by inappropriately sharing the confidential tax information and tax returns of multiple Americans.” Douglas O’Donnell, a deputy IRS commissioner, said at a hearing by a House panel that the Treasury Department, which oversees the IRS, has referred the matter for investigation to the FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office in the District of Columbia. As they raise the alarm on privacy of tax data, Republicans also are denouncing what they see as a related intrusion: a new financial reporting proposal that is nestled in Biden’s tax plan. The requirement would bring “a drastic increase in the amount of private, sensitive information reported to the IRS by financial institutions about deposits or withdrawals made by any individual or business in savings, checking, or other accounts of as little as $600,” the senior Republicans in tax policy, Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho and Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, told IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig in a letter.