FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:
June 20, 2013 Jamie Morris, 202-499-2425
Cause of Action Sues IRS for Records of Communications between
the White House and IRS
IRS refuses to reveal whether the White House has improperly received individuals’ tax return information
WASHINGTON – Cause of Action (CoA), a government accountability organization, yesterday filed a lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for its wrongful withholding and redaction of documents involving records of communications between the White House and the IRS. These documents would reveal whether the President requested tax records of individuals and businesses outside the legally permitted process under the tax code.
“While this Administration claims to be the most transparent in American history, it is ultimately unwilling to disclose to the American people whether the President improperly accessed confidential tax information of individuals and companies,” stated Dan Epstein, Cause of Action’s executive director. “We aren’t asking for the tax records themselves—only the requests. What is the Administration trying to hide?”
CoA filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in October 2012 for records of communication between the White House and the IRS concerning taxpayer information, particularly communications that were not made pursuant to 6103(g) of the tax code, which authorizes the President to request any individual’s tax return information from the IRS. On March 4, 2013, the IRS issued its final response—and with it, only partial records, thereby obstructing the path to transparency which American taxpayers were promised. CoA filed suit against the IRS, declaring that the IRS has wrongfully withheld the requested records, directing the IRS to revise its search and provide full records of communications from the White House to the IRS involving requests for tax returns.
The complaint, along with our exhibits, can be found here.
About Cause of Action:
Cause of Action is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that uses investigative, legal, and communications tools to educate the public on how government accountability and transparency protects taxpayer interests and economic opportunity. For more information, visit www.causeofaction.org.
To schedule an interview with Cause of Action’s Executive Director Dan Epstein,
contact Jamie Morris, jamie.morris@causeofaction.org.
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