I’m guessing when you cast your ballot in the 2024 presidential election, you weren’t voting to give a 20-something acolyte of billionaire Elon Musk unfettered access to your tax information or your business’ finances.
Well, oops. As you read this, a young software engineer named Gavin Kliger from the largely imaginary Department of Government Efficiency either has or will soon have access to wildly sensitive taxpayer information via one of the Internal Revenue Service’s most heavily guarded computer systems, according to CNN.
You likely don’t know Kliger, nor should you, and 0% of Americans voted to hand control of the U.S. government to a billionaire chaos agent like Musk. But President Donald Trump has largely abdicated his job and handed power to President Musk. So now we’re on the precipice of a 25-year-old mucking about in our tax returns and having access to the kind of data most people work hard to keep private.
Why should a 25-year-old with no IRS experience access taxpayer data?
According to The Washington Post, the Trump White House asked the IRS to give Kliger access to “the Integrated Data Retrieval System, or IDRS, which enables tax agency employees to access IRS accounts – including personal identification numbers – and bank information. It also lets them enter and adjust transaction data and automatically generate notices, collection documents and other records.”
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I don’t know Kliger. He might be a perfectly decent fellow, though Reuters recently reported that in “social media posts between October 2024 and January, Kliger has voiced controversial views and reposted content from white supremacist Nick Fuentes and self-described misogynist Andrew Tate.”
So … you know … I have questions.
Opinion:Trump bans AP and words he doesn’t like. ‘Free speech’ was never about First Amendment.
But the main issue here is that the federal government is considering granting a young person with zero IRS experience, someone whose vetting I know zilch about, permission to see everybody’s tax returns and all the personal and financial data that go with them.
Our ‘incredibly personal’ taxpayer data is in jeopardy, thanks to Musk
Former IRS internal consumer watchdog Nina Olson told The Post: “The information that the IRS has is incredibly personal. Someone with access to it could use it and make it public in a way, or do something with it, or share it with someone else who shares it with someone else, and your rights get violated.”
Opinion:Trump thinks he’s above the law. Republicans will ignore it until it’s too late.
Yeah. What she said.
When it comes to data privacy, this is a five-alarm fire on a swiftly sinking ship.
Two Democratic senators raise ‘serious concerns’ about DOGE
Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden and Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to Douglas O’Donnell, acting commissioner of the IRS, on Monday saying that Musk and Co.’s request for access raises “serious concerns that Elon Musk and his associates are seeking to weaponize government databases containing private bank records and other confidential information to target American citizens and businesses as part of a political agenda.”
The senators noted there are statutes in place that “have long prevented political appointees in previous administrations from accessing the private tax records of hundreds of millions of Americans, and allowing DOGE officials sweeping access these systems may be in violation of these statutes.”
Taxpayers should know exactly who is handling their personal information
Responding to all this, White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said: “Waste, fraud and abuse have been deeply entrenched in our broken system for far too long. It takes direct access to the system to identify and fix it.”
OK, but again, I have questions. Who’s the kid you’re tasking with finding all this waste, fraud and abuse, and what are his exact qualifications to do so? Shouldn’t he be vetted publicly so Americans can feel better about who will have access to their bank account numbers? How exactly will any personal taxpayer data be handled, will any of it be transmitted electronically and, if so, how do we know it will be secure?
At this point, the answer to any and all questions is basically: “Oh, don’t worry, the unelected billionaire who somehow became president, the one whose electric cars and rocket ships occasionally burst into flames, has everything under control. Trust Elon!”
Let me state very emphatically that I do not trust Elon. I do not think President Musk has my best interests at heart, or yours, and I do not think his little buddy does, either.
Unless you voted for President Musk, consider voicing your concerns
If you’re OK with these unelected, not-approved-by-Congress goobers accessing your tax returns and everything else, fine. I have a subprime mortgage you might be interested in, and I can also get you a great deal on a bridge owned by a friend of mine who was once a Nigerian prince.
But for those out there who didn’t ask for any of this, regardless of how you voted, it might be time to let your voice be heard. Tell your elected representatives they need to put a leash on Musk and his bros, quickly. Before it’s too late.
We don’t know much of anything about these intrusive DOGE fellows. But they’re poised to know virtually everything about us.
Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @rexhuppke.bsky.social and on Facebook at facebook.com/RexIsAJerk