Welcome to logoff. Today I have the latest information on the fight over your tax data. There, he supported the Trump administration's plan to make Doge staff access to ultra-sensitive tax information.
Wait, what did the White House want? The White House wanted the IRS to allow DOGE team members to access a system that includes taxpayer records, personal identification numbers and banking information.
IRS officials were wary of plans to pass outsider access to tax data at individual levels. Critics appealed to block the plan, claiming it poses a major privacy risk and opened the door to power abuse. (We covered this on Tuesday, if you want a bit of a back lead.)
So is that plan happening in the future? No, or at least not in the most extreme form. Under the agreement between the IRS and the White House, Doge staff will have access to some tax data, but the most sensitive information remains outside the limit, according to the Washington Post.
Specifically, if a staff member wants access to a tax return, he will only be able to obtain information that cannot identify an individual taxpayer, according to a copy of the contract seen by the New York Times.
What is the overall picture? Usually, only a selected few career staff have access to an individual taxpayer database, and there are plans to hand it over to Doge staff who will cause major alarm bells. For now, these concerns have been partially collaborated and your tax information is even more secure.
And so, it's time to log off…
Choose your Friday adventure. If you're curious, here's a fascinating podcast on why we get cramps while we sleep. It turns out that answering that question “dramatically changed how we understand the relationship between our brain and our bodies.” If you're exhausted and need a laugh, here's the glorious 3-minute portion of Nate Bargazze's early stand-up. Be careful this weekend. Return here on Monday.
