According to the information, the tax authority IRS, under pressure from the White House, is considering taking measures that would give Doge employees access to systems that, among other things, contain detailed information about taxes regarding both private individuals, companies, and non-profit organizations.
This would also imply the possibility of both adding to and changing existing transactions.
The news comes at the same time as approximately 150 million Americans are completing their tax returns, which must be submitted by April 15 at the latest.
According to experts, it is extremely unusual for politically appointed officials to be granted access to private individuals' tax information.
The information held by the IRS is of the highest personal nature. Someone with access to it could use and disclose it, or do something with it or share it with someone who, in turn, could share it with someone else, and then the person affected would have had their rights violated, says Nina Olson, former high-ranking lawyer at the IRS, to the Washington Post.
Doge is not a real department, but a "temporary organization". As its head, tech billionaire Musk has been given enormous power – including access to the finance department's payment system – without formal civil servant status or customary Senate scrutiny.
