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Comer Urges IRS to Take More Action on ProPublica Leaks

AUG. 25, 2021

Comer Urges IRS to Take More Action on ProPublica Leaks

DATED AUG. 25, 2021
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August 25, 2021

The Honorable Charles P. Rettig
Commissioner
Internal Revenue Service
1111 Constitution Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20224

Dear Commissioner Rettig:

Last month, I wrote to you requesting documents and information about audit trails and security at the IRS and ProPublica's sharing of IRS data.1 While you have ignored that request, ProPublica continues to publish confidential IRS information. Just last week, a ProPublica story drew on confidential tax records to assert wealthy Americans do not pay enough in taxes and Republicans facilitate that alleged unfairness.2 The IRS must not become a tool in media-driven inquisitions of this sort.

The IRS's failure to prioritize this lapse in security is unacceptable; your agency must commit to cooperating with Congress in this investigation of its compromised security. ProPublica has explained it will continue to illegally publish taxpayer information—likely without consequence.3 The IRS, therefore, must take every measure to avoid participating in such campaigns and should attempt to put an immediate end to the unlawful leaks and publications.

This letter serves to reiterate the requests for documents and information in my letter from July 29, 2021. Specifically, please produce the following information to the Committee by September 8, 2021:

1. The audit trail for the return information for each individual listed in Appendix A of my July 29 letter, from January 1, 2019 to June 1, 2021;

2. For each of the individuals listed in Appendix A of my July 29 letter, please list all IRS applications which contain their tax return information;

3. A list of the 67 applications discussed in the July 31, 2020 TIGTA report, broken down by application(s) that had accurate and complete audit trails in the Security Audit and Analysis System (SAAS), applications that had deficient audit trails, and applications that were not sending any audit trail information to the SAAS;

4. The rationale for the IRS's decision not to identify applications that use Personally Identifiable Information for the purpose of detecting improper activities and to reconstruct events for potential criminal investigations, as was recommended by TIGTA in 2020;

5. A roster of all employees and contractors with access to any application with tax return information for all of the individuals identified in Appendix A of my July 29 letter; and

6. A list of the number, date, and nature of all phone calls you have had with ProPublica in an effort to stop them from publishing additional articles containing taxpayer return information, and a list of any other steps you may have taken to prevent the public dissemination of this information.

In addition to the names included in Appendix A of the July 29 letter, please include the following individuals:

1. Brendan Bechtel

2. Darren Bechtel

3. Katherine Bechtel

4. Donald Bren

5. Diane Hendricks

6. Ted Kellner

7. Adam Portnoy

8. Steven Roth

9. Donald Sterling

10. Elizabeth Uihlein

11. Richard Uihlein

The Committee on Oversight and Reform is the principal oversight Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives and has broad authority to investigate “any matter” at “any time” under House Rule X.

If you have any questions about this request, please contact Committee staff at (202) 225-5074. Thank you for your cooperation with this inquiry.

Sincerely,

James Comer
Ranking Member
Committee on Oversight and Reform

cc:
The Honorable Carolyn Maloney, Chairwoman Committee on Oversight and Reform

FOOTNOTES

1Letter from the Hon. James Comer, Ranking Member, Comm. on Oversight and Reform, to the Hon. Charles P. Rettig, Commissioner, Internal Revenue Serv. (July 29, 2021).

2Justin Elliott and Robert Faturechi, Secret IRS Files Reveal How Much the Ultrawealthy Gained by Shaping Trump's “Big Beautiful Tax Cut,” PROPUBLICA (Aug. 11, 2021), available at https://www.propublica.org/article/secret-irs-files-reveal-how-much-the-ultrawealthy-gained-by-shaping-trumps-big-beautiful-tax-cut.

3Stephen Engelberg and Richard Tofel, Why We Are Publishing the Tax Secrets of the.001%, ProPublica (Jun. 8, 2021), available at https://www.propublica.org/article/why-we-are-publishing-the-tax-secrets-of-the-001.

END FOOTNOTES

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