Who's Istook and why does he want your tax forms?

[cal04]

Just posted on Kos

That Rep. Ernie Istook (R-OK) was the source of the offensive IRS snooping provisions found yesterday in the omnibus spending bill comes as no surprise to those who remember the infamous "Istook amendment" battles of the mid-1990s.

The "Istook amendment" was at the heart of the post-Contract With America GOP fight to "de-fund the left," an effort to undermine or eliminate liberal advocacy groups and their opposition to the right-wing agenda, by destroying its funding mechanisms.

It ultimately failed, but apparently Istook never gave up on his mission to target and harass liberal advocates, as we learned on the Senate floor last night.

http://www.dailykos.com/

[Career Prole]

1. When tax time comes next year, let's all go to the post office,

pick up a 1040, write "YOU ALREADY HAVE ALL MY DAMNED MONEY, A-HOLE!", stick it in an envelope, and mail it off to that nice Mr. Istook.
:evilgrin:

[napi21]

2. I don't understand what they would hope to gain from my tax return.

I don't remember Istook, and as much as I watch xspan, I don't remember him or his name, so I suspect he's not a leader of much status.

What would anyone have to gain from reviewing my tax return? I guess I'm missing something here. What's the big deal?

[tandot]

4. if your right-wing big brother is looking at what groups you are donating

to, some people might be less willing to donate to liberal groups. Especially if you are well-known and information will be "accidentally" leaked to the press.

And if you have ever made a mistake on your tax return, they can black mail you or "leak" the information, especially if you decide to run for any office as a Democrat.

[havocmom]

6. If they put it into law that your return can be handed over to others,

you can't raise a fuss when the returns get processed by private corporations, who send them to India to be done. It has been done in the past few years and will become much more common now.

google: outsourcing tax return processing

[grasswire]

7. it isn't so much YOUR tax return...

...that they might be interested in. But what about the tax returns of journalists? Or other lawmakers? Or certain businesses? Or perhaps professors? Or liberal clergy? Or political candidates?

I hope you see the danger here.

[napi21]

8. Political candidates won't matter. Most of them make their returns public

anyway. As far as donations to political campaigns go, they're not tax deductible, so why would they even be on your return?

I know there are lots of people who want to keep their income secret, and although I don't quite understand it, I suppose it's OK, but I really don't seen a bog problem here.

[grasswire]

10. there's more to it.

Donations to tax-exempt organizations will also be revealed. Any number of things could be used against a citizen.

I hope at some point you understand that you should fear the government and resist its attempts to gain information about you.

[napi21]

12. Political donations are already available online!

I'm not ashamed of mine! Are you? Why dosen't anyone want their political support being public?

The Government already knows everything about me. I had a job with the Federal Reserve, so they have my fingerprints. The IRS is a Government organization, so they know all my finances. I have a deed to my house, license on my car, license for my dogs, drivers license, public phone records...what else could they possibly want to know?

I guess I'm missing your concerns.

[grasswire]

13. argh!!!!!!!!!!

You are missing a lot. I hope it's because you're relatively young and inexperienced.

[eleny]

3. Maybe DeLay asked Istook to do it

[cal04]

5. Bill Gives Lawmakers Access to Tax Returns

Congress passed legislation Saturday giving two committee chairman and their assistants access to income tax returns without regard to privacy protections, but not before red-faced Republicans said it was all a mistake and would be swiftly repealed.

The Senate unanimously adopted a resolution immediately after passing a 3,300-word spending bill containing the measure, saying the provision "shall have no effect." House leaders promised to pass the resolution next Wednesday.

"We're going to get that done," said John Feehery, a spokesman for House Speaker Dennis Hastert. The spending bill covering most federal agencies and programs will not be sent to President Bush until the House acts on the resolution repealing the tax returns language.

"There will be no window where this will be law," Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said. He referred to the provision as the Istook amendment and congressional aides said it was put in the bill at the request of Rep. Ernest Istook Jr., chairman of the House Appropriations Committee's transportation subcommittee.

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/041121/ap/d86g09382.html

[napi21]

9. I find it interesting that CNN and it's guests are saying this was put

into this bill by some staffers, and we Need to find out who did it and why. Last comment I heard was McCain on Blitzers Show. He said he heard it was done by a staffer, and he didn't know why they would do that.

[ticapnews]

11. Let's put two and two together...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1005233
(snip)
For example, Mr. Mehlman, in discussing a get-out-the-vote operation that surprised Democrats in many parts of the country on Election Day, said the Republicans had moved away from traditional operations, adopting the tactics of corporate America to identify potential Bush supporters.

Rather than dispatching troops to knock on doors in neighborhoods known to be heavily Republican, Mr. Mehlman said, the Bush campaign studied consumer habits in trying to predict whom people would vote for in a presidential election.

"We did what Visa did," Mr. Mehlman said. "We acquired a lot of consumer data. What magazine do you subscribe to? Do you own a gun? How often do the folks go to church? Where do you send your kids to school? Are you married?

"Based on that, we were able to develop an exact kind of consumer model that corporate America does every day to predict how people vote - not based on where they live but how they live," he said. "That was critically important to our success."
(snip)

The "agents" designated by members of Congress could simply hand over millions of tax returns to be added to the database the GOP has put together already.

You are no longer an individual. You are a piece of data.