Identity thieves steal Americans’ personal data daily. Instead of going after these criminals or helping victims, the IRS is similarly falling victim to these hackers, failing to protect hundreds of thousands of taxpayers.

Last year, the IRS inadvertently released the private information of 112,000 taxpayers, including Social Security numbers and bank and investment account information.

And in 2016, hackers accessed the personal information of 700,000 taxpayers, which the IRS failed to inform the public for over a year.

Despite these multiple breaches, proposals are being pushed in Washington that would result in taxpayers giving the IRS even more of their personal information so the IRS can prepare and file tax returns for all taxpayers.

If the IRS can’t even protect this information, how can it be trusted to protect the personal information required from taxpayers to operate a government-run tax preparation system? Taxpayers should be concerned about handing more data to an agency that has a long track record of using this information to target individuals, nonprofits and businesses based on their income, race and political affiliation.

Don’t let the IRS do more damage. I urge Sen. Bob Casey to protect his constituents and oppose a government-run tax preparation system.

Shawn Fitzgerald

Springdale

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)