The fact that IRS is allowing the tax preparers to sell the tax return information to the third parties is quite disturbing rising questions of thefts and break-out of private financial information. The IRS has not yet produced a final version of this proposal, and will come into action after 30 days of the final version is introduced and the consent will be only after the tax preparer gets a written consent from the taxpayer. But even before it is introduced it has brought in a lot of criticism from many, as per as U.S. Sen. Barack Obama:
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.But the IRS spokesman William M. Cressman justified their proposal by putting it in on their taxpayers:
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.
Well I fail to understand the ironical step of protecting the consumer rights and then defeating the purpose. This proposal would simply defy all the steps taken by the IRS to protect the tax information of the taxpayers from Phishing.
