Groups file lawsuit challenging DOGE access at IRS

Yahoo

18-02-2025

A coalition of unions, tax and small business groups sued late Monday to block the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing personal taxpayer data at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
The groups claim such access violates federal privacy and tax laws, and the case adds to more than a dozen existing lawsuits challenging DOGE's structure or its examination of confidential systems across the federal government.
'DOGE will also have access to tax records of Mr. Musk's business competitors, which are held by the IRS. No other business owner on the planet has access to this kind of information on his competitors, and for good reason,' the new lawsuit states.
Filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., the lawsuit comes as the DOGE team is reportedly seeking access to a sensitive IRS system, known as the Integrated Data Retrieval System (IDRS), that the agency uses to see taxpayer accounts.
It has become the latest part of the federal bureaucracy to be targeted by Elon Musk's DOGE, which has rapidly implanted itself at agencies across the government as part of ambitious plans to slash trillions of dollars in spending.
'While the DOGE playbook at the IRS appears to mirror every other agency it has entered, the systems at issue, and the laws that govern access to them, are not,' the lawsuit states.
The case was brought by the Center for Taxpayer Rights, Main Street Alliance, the National Federation of Federal Employees and the Communication Workers of America. They are represented by the Democracy Forward Foundation, a left-leaning legal organization that has brought a dozen lawsuits against President Trump since his inauguration.
Musk's efforts have quickly sparked lawsuits from Democratic state attorneys general, government employee unions and other private groups.
Earlier Monday, a judge declined to block DOGE from accessing student borrower data at the Education Department. On Friday, another judge declined to block DOGE's access to the Labor Department, Department of Health and Human Services and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Judges are expected to rule soon on other lawsuits that seek to block DOGE at seven federal agencies and extend a block on DOGE accessing the Treasury Department's payment systems.
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