The provision, one sentence in the 3,000-page omnibus spending bill
that cleared Congress on Saturday night, states, "Hereafter,
notwithstanding any other provision of law governing the disclosure of
income tax returns or return information, upon written request of the
chairman of the House or Senate Committee on Appropriations, the
commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service shall allow agents
designated by such chairman access to Internal Revenue Service
facilities and any tax returns or return information contained
therein."
"Of course, people's privacy would have been jeopardized," Mr. Conrad,
a Democrat from North Dakota, said at a news conference in the
Capitol.
It "would have provided unfettered power to chairmen of the
Appropriations Committees now and in the future to assign agents to go
review people's tax returns and to reveal them to the public without
any civil or criminal penalty."
From The New York Times, 11/23/04:
http://nytimes.com/2004/11/23/politics/23explain.html
Panel Chief Denies Knowing About Item on Inspecting Tax Returns
By DAVID E. ROSENBAUM
WASHINGTON -
Representative Ernest Istook, the chairman of the appropriations
subcommittee with jurisdiction over the Internal Revenue Service
budget, said on Monday that a measure allowing some lawmakers and
their staffs to examine Americans' income tax returns had been
inserted in a huge spending bill by a staff assistant without his
knowledge.
"I didn't write it; I didn't approve it; I wasn't even consulted," Mr.
Istook, a Republican from Oklahoma, said in a statement issued by his
office.
On Sunday, Mr. Istook issued a statement saying "nobody's privacy was
ever jeopardized," but he did not deny any responsibility for the
measure.
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Cagey, these Repugs, eh? Gotta watch 'em like a hawk.
Harry
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