Read the full story: Forbes
We wouldn’t know anything about this more debilitating scandal except for a lawsuit for transparency against this promised most transparent administration in history. A non-profit group, Cause of Action, began investigating whether the IRS was improperly sharing taxpayer information with the White House in 2012. Cause of Action filed a Freedom of Information Act request for any correspondence between the IRS and White House about tax returns for individuals or businesses. When the IRS refused the request, the group filed a lawsuit.
Having to sue sure doesn’t seem transparent, but it gets worse. There have been a number of allegations of politically motivated IRS leaks. But proving such a thing is difficult, particularly when even the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, TIGTA, errs on the side of keeping taxpayer information confidential. Even if the confidentiality law was broken, the theory goes, it would be breaking it again to reveal the confidences that were revealed to the White House in violation of the law.
