According to the Philadelphia Inquirer:
"The IRS is quietly moving to loosen the once-inviolable privacy of federal income-tax returns. If it succeeds, accountants and other tax-return preparers will be able to sell information from individual returns - or even entire returns - to marketers and data brokers."
Republicans have been denigrating privacy for a long time. They say things like:"What is so important about privacy? "If you have nothing to hide why worry?" According to Justices Roberts, Thomas and Alito, there is no right to privacy. These justices want to strip citizens of their privacy with reference to sexual activity in the home; it shows up in their opposition to same-sex marriage, abortion and other non-conventional private behavior.
Now Republicans are stripping privacy protection from money information. Are you going to let them get away with it?
To Republicans, money is more important than privacy. How do you get money? By selling things. How could Republicans have so long overlooked the treasure trove of private information that can be found in tax forms? Finally, the Bush Administration breaks the dam. Sell the information, it says. This stuff is too valuable to be left untouched. What a bonanza!
Democrats are alarmed. The fundamental value of privacy is being shredded. We should have expected it. After all, Republicans have deprived citizens of their civil rights with the Patriot Act? So, how much worse can it get if they deprive all of us taxpayers of our money-information rights? Democratic Senator Barack Obama said about this:
"There is no more sensitive information than a taxpayer's return, and the IRS's proposal to allow these returns to be sold to third-party marketers and database brokers is deeply troubling."
It's more than troubling. It shows a complete disregard of American citizens as people. As long as we obey the law - and we do obey the law when we reluctantly fill out IRS forms - we should feel comfortable we would not suffer by doing so. If our tax information is sold, we WILL suffer. We can be positive that the information will be used to hurt us.
It boggles the mind that any administration, even if it's Republican, would allow income-tax information to be sold. Tell your representative and senators to stop this atrocity. You don't want to sell your identity!
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