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Paul L. Caron
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Monday, February 24, 2014

The IRS Scandal, Day 291

IRS Logo 2New York Post op-ed:  I Was a Victim of the IRS, by Christine O'Donnell:

On March 9, 2010, around 10 a.m., I announced my plans to run for senate representing Delaware.

Later that same day, my office received a call from a reporter asking about my taxes.

It’s since come out, after a halting and unenthusiastic investigation, that a Delaware Department of Revenue employee named David Smith accessed my records that day at approximately 2 p.m. — out of curiosity, he says.

That these records ended up in the hands of the press is just a coincidence, the IRS claims. ...

Let’s imagine if the situation was reversed. What if, while a Republican was president, the IRS leaked the tax records of Democratic candidates to the press? What would the reaction look like then?

Would journalists be dismissing this as “not a scandal”?

You may not agree with my politics, but is this the kind of precedent Democrats really want to set — that leaking private information is no big deal?

https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2014/02/the-irs-scandalstrong.html

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Comments

1. The Delaware Department of Revenue is not the IRS, Christine. I assume that, like most people in this country who got beyond the 7th grade, you know that there is a difference between the state and federal governments. So why are you looking for answers from the IRS? It would be more productive to pursue answers from the Delaware Department of Revenue.

2. Tax lien filings are matters of public record, Christine. IRC confidentiality laws don’t apply to filed notices of tax liens. In points of fact and law, Christine, the whole purpose of a notice of tax lien is to put the world on notice of the existence of the lien and its underlying liability.

3. Contrary to your narrative, Christine, both federal and state tax liens attach to property and rights to property owned or after-acquired by the taxpayer. So if you didn’t own the house, Christine, then there was no lien attached to it. If you owned the house at the time the lien arose, then the lien was attached and followed the property. But the instant the underlying tax liability was satisfied or expired, the lien went poof.

4. Nice try Christine, but you can’t ride this bandwagon.

Posted by: Publius Novus | Feb 24, 2014 8:18:39 AM