From: Ellen K. 

Unbelievable.

On Tue, 21 Mar 2006 22:17:57 -0500, "Rich Gauszka"
 wrote in message :

>Are they out of their freakin minds?
> http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/business/14147002.htm
>The IRS is quietly moving to loosen the once-inviolable privacy of federal
>income-tax returns. If it succeeds, accountants and other tax-return
>preparers will be able to sell information from individual returns - or even
>entire returns - to marketers and data brokers.
>
>The change is raising alarm among consumer and privacy-rights advocates. It
>was included in a set of proposed rules that the Treasury Department and the
>IRS published in the Dec. 8 Federal Register, where the official notice
>labeled them "not a significant regulatory action."
>
>IRS officials portray the changes as housecleaning to update outmoded
>regulations adopted before it began accepting returns electronically. The
>proposed rules, which would become effective 30 days after a final version
>is published, would require a tax preparer to obtain written consent before
>selling tax information.
>
>Critics call the changes a dangerous breach in personal and financial
>privacy. They say the requirement for signed consent would prove meaningless
>for many taxpayers, especially those hurriedly reviewing stacks of documents
>before a filing deadline.
>
>"The normal interaction is that the taxpayer just signs what the tax
>preparer puts in front of them," said Jean Ann Fox of the Consumer
>Federation of America, one of several groups fighting the changes. "They
>think, 'This person is a tax professional, and I'm going to rely on them.' "
>
>Criticism also came from U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D., Ill.). In a letter last
>Tuesday to IRS Commissioner Mark Everson, Obama warned that once in the
>hands of third parties, tax information could be resold and handled under
>even looser rules than the IRS sets, increasing consumers' vulnerability to
>identity theft and other risks.
>
>"There is no more sensitive information than a taxpayer's return, and the
>IRS's proposal to allow these returns to be sold to third-party marketers
>and database brokers is deeply troubling," Obama wrote.
>
>The IRS first announced the proposal in a news release the day before the
>official notice was published, headlined: "IRS Issues Proposed Regulations
>to Safeguard Taxpayer Information."
>
>The announcement did not mention potential sales of tax information. It said
>the proposed rules were guided by the principle "that tax return preparers
>may not disclose or use tax return information for purposes other than tax
>return preparation without the knowing, informed and voluntary consent of
>the taxpayer."
>
>IRS spokesman William M. Cressman defended the proposal in similar terms.
>
>"The heart of this proposed regulation is about the right of taxpayers to
>control their tax return information. The idea is to emphasize taxpayer
>consent and set clear boundaries on how tax return preparers can use or
>disclose tax return information," Cressman said in an e-mail response to
>questions.
>
>Cressman said he was unable to explain "why this issue has come up at this
>time other than our effort to update regulations that date back to the 1970s
>and predate the electronic era."
>
>
>
>Not all the changes have drawn opposition.
>
>Beth A. McConnell, director of the Pennsylvania Public Interest Research
>Group (PennPIRG), said she welcomed a requirement that a taxpayer would need
>to consent to overseas processing of any portion of a tax return.
>
>"That's a positive development, but I don't think it's worth giving up our
>tax returns' privacy for," said McConnell, who plans to testify on behalf of
>the U.S. Public Interest Research Group at an April 4 IRS hearing in
>Washington on the rule changes.
>
>McConnell accused the IRS of using the new limit on overseas processing to
>dress up changes that would chiefly benefit tax preparers, marketers and
>data brokers.
>
>"That's a disturbing trend among Washington officials
lately," McConnell
>said. "They'll offer a modest consumer protection in one area in exchange
>for dramatic weakening of consumer protections in another area, and then try
>to convince the public that it's all in our interests."
>
>Critics of the proposal said it could do more than open up sales of tax
>information to data brokers and marketers, because it could undermine
>taxpayer confidence in the entire tax system.
>
>
>

--- BBBS/NT v4.01 Flag-5