Elon Musk’s plans to access IRS taxpayer data raises concerns; Democrat term it ‘illegal and blatant power grab’

Elon Musk’s department of government efficiency (Doge) team plans for access to an internal revenue service (IRS) system containing personal tax information of millions of Americans, including their tax returns raised the concerns.
“This is a five-alarm warning,” Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.), a House Ways and Means Committee member, posted on X, describing it as an “illegal and blatant power grab.”

“The GOP majority must join Democrats to stop Musk from stealing taxpayer information. If not, they’ll be to blame for any leak, abuse or theft,” Gomez added.
A White House representative verified that the Doge is pursuing access to the IRS’s Integrated Data Retrieval System, as initially reported by the Washington Post.
The initiative will involve one DOGE affiliate and an IRS staff member, according to a White House official.
The information is strictly confidential, and unauthorised access constitutes a felony. Previously, some of Musk’s federal tax records were disclosed without authorisation.
According to the Post, DOGE’s proposed agreement with the IRS would require the authorised individual to maintain confidentiality and subsequently destroy any shared information.
“I’m unaware of any instance of political appointees at Treasury or the IRS having access to this database,” Lily Batchelder, the Treasury Department’s assistant secretary for tax administration in the Biden administration, wrote on X. “I didn’t and the political appointees on my team did not.”

White House spokesperson Harrison Fields supported the initiative, stating: “Waste, fraud, and abuse have been deeply entrenched in our broken system for far too long. It takes direct access to the system to identify and fix it.”
The IRS occasionally permits non-agency personnel, including contractors, consultants and other government agencies, to access sensitive taxpayer data under strict privacy regulations.
The data access issue gained attention when IRS contractor Charles Littlejohn leaked tax information about former President Donald Trump and numerous wealthy individuals to the media.
Littlejohn received a five-year prison sentence. Republicans criticised the IRS’s data protection measures and advocated for a longer sentence.
A ProPublica article in 2021 revealed leaked details about Musk’s tax returns, indicating he paid $455 million in federal taxes from 2014 to 2018.
This unprecedented request emerges as tax professionals express concern about DOGE’s potential IRS plans during the current tax-filing period, including possible staff reductions.
“IRS service levels and modernisation efforts have seen progress since the COVID-19 pandemic and we are committed to seeing those efforts continue,” Mark Koziel, the American Institute of CPA’s leader, stated on Sunday, before the DOGE news emerged.
“Americans deserve a fully functioning agency that can be respected by taxpayers and their preparers, thereby allowing them to comply with their tax obligations,” he said.