IRS Leaves Taxpayer Data Largely Unprotected

LogError writes "Two weeks ago, Department of Treasury received a D-minus grade in the Federal Computer Security Report Card for 2005, down from a D-plus grade in 2004. The majority of Treasury systems are those belonging to IRS. The government-wide computer-security grade for 2005 was D-plus, while Homeland Security and Defense both received an F. Grades are based on reports submitted to Congress by the agencies; the reports are required under the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002.8 The scores are meant to reflect whether departments meet federally mandated security standards."

Comments

Re:What a surprise

[TopShelf]

The government fining the IRS? That's a laugh...

That's basically taking a million out of one pocket and putting it in another. What's the point?

Re:What a surprise

[AKAImBatman]

To what end? Will we fine the IRS until they can't collect taxes?

If you want to see the IRS punished, make heads roll when bad things happen. Which means things like:

1. Management can be fired if a huge screwup happens
2. Massive screwups can result in fines against management
3. Charges can be brought against the parties responsible for the screwup

Once their necks are on the line, you can be certain that the top level of IRS management will put pressure on the entire organization to prevent security issues.

That being said, the IRS is likely suffering from the same problem as the rest of the goverment agencies: Too much work, not enough manpower/funding. Putting more pressure on the IRS may only result in making it harder to find IRS employees.

Just one more reason to enact the FairTax

[thepuma]

We need to get rid of the IRS altogether and replace it with the FairTax.

The FairTax would replace the complex and difficult to understand federal income tax with a fair and simple national sales tax.

Under the FairTax, Americans will take home 100% of their paychecks, allowing them to save more money for education and retirement, as well as make investments that will stimulate our economy. Not only will American workers take home their whole paychecks, each registered household will receive a monthly "prebate" check to refund taxes paid on necessities. This combination of sales tax and monthly prebate makes the FairTax the only tax proposal that completely "untaxes" the poor.

The FairTax is revenue neutral. While the American worker has everything to gain under this new system of taxation, the government will lose nothing in federal funding.

The current system of taxation is beyond repair. Compliance is difficult and expensive, often prohibitively so for aspiring small businesses.

Re:Careful...

[Fulcrum of Evil]

The 5th amendment protects you from being compelled to testify against yourself in a court. If you volunteer the information, you're out of luck.

You are compelled to list your income and occupation on the tax forms. Therefore, the IRS cannot share that info with the FBI or local cops. If you're a hooker and you declare that you made $150,000 last year and give uncle sam his cut, they won't do a damn thing to you. They won't (can't) tip off vice, because it's illegal.