In case you were away from your computer over the weekend, you might have missed the fact that congressional Republicans nearly empowered themselves to review your tax returns without restrictions or regard to privacy laws.
Yes, the law currently considers it a felony to disclose information from income tax returns, but under a new GOP plan, the chairpersons of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees — and their staff assistants — could examine Americans’ tax returns whenever they felt like it, for any reason at all.
Michael Froomkin has taken to calling the Republicans the “party of sleaze.” The GOP is doing its very best to make sure the label fits.
The tax return provision, it must be emphasized, almost become law. Rep. Ernest Istook (R-Okla.) quietly sneaked the item into a massive 3,000-page, $388 billion spending package in the middle of the night. Fortunately, Sen. Kent Conrad’s office (D-N.D.) discovered the language and, with bi-partisan support, had it removed from the legislation.
To be sure, Republican leaders are saying all the right things. Obviously, they see no utility in defending the indefensible. Nevertheless, this is the kind of stunt that Dems are not prepared to just let fade away.
Some Democrats didn’t accept the assertion that the provision was a mistake and demanded an investigation.
“We weren’t born yesterday, we didn’t come down with the first snow,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California. “This isn’t poorly thought out, this was very deliberately thought out and it was done in the dead of night.”
Bill Frist said yesterday that “accountability will be carried out” in this mess. We can only hope he meant it.