As citizens in Arizona and across the U.S. are becoming warier about protecting their privacy, the Functional Government Initiative (FGI) is demanding transparency from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to see how the agency uses citizens’ personal information.
Monday, April 18 is Tax Day in the U.S. this year – a day that Americans provide the IRS with sensitive financial information, with the expectation that the IRS will keep this information private. However, in light of recent scandals plaguing the IRS, the possibility of the revenue service leaking private information is a concern for many. The FGI has opened multiple investigations in its effort to achieve transparency from the IRS.
“Tax Day may not be a fun day, and it certainly isn’t a cheap day, but it shouldn’t be a scary day,” FGI spokesperson Peter McGinnis said on the group's website. “Yet, with leaks of sensitive data, targeting of organizations based on their politics, and an unprecedented power grab for more authority and IRS agents, this Tax Day should remind every American of the need for accountability at the IRS. And, as with most aspects of government, accountability begins with transparency, which we are still waiting to obtain through our many requests into the agency. Stay tuned as we demand the records the American people are entitled to.”
The FGI pointed out that a lack of accountability or availability of public records about previous information abuse from the IRS is cause for concern for many Americans and the driving force behind their investigation.
Among its investigations, FGI is seeking agency records regarding the unauthorized leak of sensitive financial information of wealthy American citizens to ProPublica. The nonprofit organization recently published an article with an accompanying database that contained the leaked information. FGI said the IRS has not made any headway in discovering the source of the leak, nor revealed any effort to hold bad actors accountable.
Another FGI inquiry concerns the economic analysis, key players, and supporting materials related to the proposal to increase IRS resources for enforcement personnel and impose a now-discarded $600 threshold, allowing the IRS to peer into hundreds of millions of Americans’ bank accounts.
FGI is a nonpartisan organization that works to demand transparency and integrity from government agencies and elected officials, according to its website. The group has repeatedly expressed concerns over the federal government’s perplexing response and actions taken while attempting to reduce gas prices.
A total of 4,716,738 tax returns were filed for Fiscal Year 2020 in the state of Arizona, according to the IRS website.