- The Washington Times - Friday, November 28, 2014

The Internal Revenue Service may have given thousands of confidential filings from private taxpayers to the White House to review, a lawsuit against the Treasury Department just revealed.

The suit, filed against Treasury’s inspector general by Cause of Action, a legal advocacy outfit, reveals a steady stream of communication went on between the White House and the IRS — a potentially “improper” stream, the group alleged, The Daily Caller reported.

“[T]he Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration informed Cause of Action that there exist nearly 2,500 potentially confidential documents relating to investigations of improper disclosures of confidential taxpayer information by the IRS to the White House,” Cause of Action told The Daily Caller.

The Justice Department has requested more time to review the documents before making them public, Newsmax said.

Cause of Action, meanwhile, is shocked.

“This disclosure, coming only after [we] sued TOGTA over its refusal to acknowledge whether such investigations took place, and after the court ordered TIGTA to reveal whether or not documents existed, signals that the White House may have made significant efforts to obtain taxpayers’ personal information,” Cause of Action wrote in a statement to the Examiner.

Cause of Action has accused the IRS and the White House of harassing taxpayers.

• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.

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