Did IRS Illegally Share Taxpayer Data With White House?

It sure appears that way, since the IRS is defying a court order to turn over documents. It also should come as no surprise that most media outlets have completely ignored this story

(Fox News) An IRS watchdog is acknowledging that thousands of documents related to requests between the White House and the tax agency for unauthorized tax information exist — but says it must withhold them all due to privacy concerns.

The revelation by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) came as part of a lawsuit filed by non-profit group Cause of Action, which began investigating whether the IRS was improperly sharing taxpayer information with the White House in 2012.

Cause of Action originally filed a Freedom of Information Act request asking the IRS to turn over any documents, if they existed, related to correspondence between the IRS and the White House about requests for tax returns for individuals or businesses.

When the IRS said it was unable to do so because of constraints in the Internal Revenue Code, the group filed the lawsuit. A judge ruled that the IRS must turn over any relevant documents to Cause of Action by Dec. 1 to comply with the FOIA request.

TIGTA has informed Cause Of Action that there are over 2000 relevant pages, but, they can’t turn them over because they contain….wait for it….taxpayer information.

Dan Epstein, a spokesman for Cause of Action, told FoxNews.com he believes that the IRS “essentially ignored the order of the court” with this declaration and that the group is considering the best path forward to force the IRS to disclose the documents.

However, Epstein said that the group feels that TIGTA’s acknowledgment of the documents is “absolutely” a victory in their investigation. He said the sheer number of relevant documents indicates that wrongdoing occurred on the part of both the IRS and the White House.

Of course, is anyone surprised that the heavily politicized IRS would act in this manner? The TIGTA can’t share the information about Illegally shared Taxpayer information, shared with the White House Illegally, because it would be Illegal. See how this Administration works now?

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach.

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