The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported a few days ago that there has been an increase in the number of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees illegally looking at confidential taxpayer info. As the WSJ says, "Although the number of browsing cases is tiny compared with the IRS's overall work force, the number went up in the latest year. Officials at the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, or TIGTA, say they opened 521 investigations in fiscal 2007, up from 448 the prior year -- and the highest since a 1998 taxpayer-privacy law was enacted."
"During the latest year, there were 219 "adverse administrative actions" against IRS workers, including firings and suspensions, a TIGTA official says. That's up sharply from 104 such actions the prior year."
No word from the UK on the number of HM Revenue & Custom employees who have been caught snooping on UK taxpayers.
