Tax Update Blog: Permalink

« Previous · Tax Update Blog Home · Next »

DAD OF PRIVACY BOTCH OWNS UP

December 03, 2004

To paraphrase the cliche, wisdom has a thousand fathers, but foolishness is an orphan.

Well, the father of the misbegotten provision in the recently passed budget bill that gives Congressional staffers access to tax returns has stepped up to claim paternity. It turns out that Dad is Richard Efford, a long-time Congressional staffer. He wanted to visit an IRS return processing facility, but was told he needed permission from the Ways and Means chairman to do so under taxpayer confidentiality rules.

Professor Maule explains what happened next:

   Efford explained that he thought there was no reason 
   for a member of Appropriations Committee staff to 
   "have to go beg" a revenue committee for permission 
   to visit a facility where taxpayer returns were visible. 
   When Efford told his story to other members of the 
   staff, from both parties, one replied that he had 
   encountered the same IRS objections.

   Efford's solution? He wrote an amendment that would 
   give him and the other staffers the same IRS 
   inspection rights as the staffers on the revenue 
   committees. Except that it left out the privacy 
   protection provisions.

One thing led to another, and the thing passed in the Congressional rush to adjourn. The professor is not sympathetic to the staffer's plight:

  What is so wrong with a staff member of the 
  Appropriations Committee having to ask for permission 
  from the Ways and Means committee chair to inspect 
  IRS facilities? The point of asking permission is to bring
  the staff member within the privacy provisions. Why is 
  asking permission such a problem? Concern that it 
  would be denied for a good reason?

Hey, buddy, you know who you're talking to? I'm with the Appropriations Committee!

Go visit the Professor and read the whole thing.

      Bookmark: del.icio.us • Digg • reddit