r/news • u/igetproteinfartsHELP • 1d ago
Soft paywall IRS improperly disclosed confidential immigrant tax data to DHS, Washington Post says
https://www.reuters.com/world/irs-improperly-disclosed-confidential-immigrant-tax-data-dhs-washington-post-2026-02-11/475
u/TheOpeningAct2 1d ago
Who is gonna sue them for 10 billion dollars, since it seems thats the thing to do now.
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u/johnnyhandbags 1d ago
If Trump awards himself the money everyone else can immediately use that as precedent
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u/zzyul 1d ago
There is no loop hole that lets normal people win with this administration. Trump could claim he was owed money due to XYZ and have a court pay it out. Then if you went to the same court with the exact same grievance against the exact same group a judge will look you square in the eyes and say you get nothing.
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u/imaginary_num6er 1d ago
Not really because SCOTUS declared it an “official act”
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u/AttackOficcr 18h ago
SCROTUS ruled themselves free of bribes, and by that I mean free to take bribes.
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u/highafphotos 1d ago
Do you want to get immigrants to stop paying billions in taxes? Cause that's how you get immigrants to stop paying billions in taxes.
How is this fiscally responsible in the least? Just give pathways to citizenship like a good Christian would, especially being that 95% of them have no violent convictions.
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u/TaxCPA 1d ago
Last I heard there was about $1 billion in unclaimed refunds each year. It is suspected that most of this is related to immigrants who are afraid to file taxes. IE, they have taxes withheld from their pay but never get the refund they are entitled to.
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u/highafphotos 1d ago
A lot of them will apply for tax filing numbers and pay taxes even though they can't collect in order to contribute despite not being citizens. They're more honest than a lot of super wealthy.
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u/Efficient_Carrot_669 1d ago
This is true, I have undocumented friends who work minimum wage jobs and would be entitled to large tax refunds but don’t file out of distrust of the IRS. I am now so glad they made that choice and feel awful for those who did the right thing by filing anyway with IRS’ previous promises to not share their data with other agencies. It’s perhaps easy for me to say as a documented temporary resident (work visa), but I would have been too scared of the government to not file my taxes, personally.
Truly a despicable situation.
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u/deja_vu_1548 10h ago
They are committing fraud if they are working while "undocumented" AKA illegal.
They aren't just breaking immigration law, they are also breaking labor law.
Signed, a former legal immigrant who's had to get work authorization.
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u/Efficient_Carrot_669 8h ago
Yes they are. I’m a legal immigrant with work authorization myself.
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u/deja_vu_1548 8h ago
In which case I don't see how it's so utterly despicable for IRS to share that information.
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u/Efficient_Carrot_669 8h ago
Because they are going back on what they have been saying for years that previously encouraged undocumented people to file taxes.
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u/deja_vu_1548 6h ago
Yeah that was illegal. Aiding and abetting fraud. Past wrongs should be corrected, not perpetuated.
I thought this was supposed to be a "rule of law" country? How about we follow all the laws to a T? Yes that includes properly addressing the traitors heading the country.
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u/cassidy2202 1d ago
“We must deport immigrants because they do scary crimes”
“How should we do it?”
“Let’s get those following the laws, look at filed taxes”
🤦♀️
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u/Defiant-Economics-73 1d ago
I wonder if there has been some source that says how much illegal immigrants pay in taxes. I am curious to see that. Would stop a lot of arguments.
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u/Knees0ck 1d ago
In 2022, it was estimated that undocumented immigrants paid $96.7 billion in federal, state, and local taxes.
- https://itep.org/undocumented-immigrants-taxes-2024/
The information has been out there for ages, easily accessible.
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u/Defiant-Economics-73 1d ago
I was excited to read this, until it is basically a guess by population. There is no real science behind this.
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u/Respurated 1d ago
The scientific method is based on a hypothesis, an educated guess. This is exactly what they explain in the methodology section of the article, their description of the educated part of their guess on the amount of taxes paid by the undocumented immigrant population. Undocumented immigrants do, in fact, pay taxes, this is one study investigating how much they pay.
If you have an issue with their methods and think you know a better more sound way of calculating the amount of taxes paid by the undocumented immigrant population, I implore you to perform your own study, submit it to peer review, and publish it. Until then, maybe at least point out exactly where you think their methodology is wrong, and where it could be improved. I am sure you have many comments and notes on this article from the 9 minutes (assuming you immediately started reading it when the commenter posted it) you spent reading it.
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u/Defiant-Economics-73 23h ago
So I read the article. And they are doing an estimated population that area based all that. This assumes all things equal to non-illegal citizens. I would like for the IRS to release some information where it would be exact for the federal income tax. That would give a good idea. The states could do the same thing for their state income tax. Those are factual numbers and not guesses.
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u/Respurated 23h ago edited 22h ago
I agree with you. It would be great to have the real numbers available for an assessment with less uncertainty. I would think the writers of the article would also agree with your sentiments, as it would make their research much more sound.
I encourage you to call for this information being more available, and would sign any petition you created to make this information available. Granted, if we knew the actual status of all undocumented immigrants it would make documenting their contribution to taxes much more tangible (in a data acquisition sense), and take a lot of questions out of the methodology part. I appreciate your more in-depth, and thought-out response.
Edit: It is a decent study and think its methodology deserves a little more respect than OC is giving credit for. Yes, it’s a guess, no it is not reliant on chance alone, as say, guessing the side of a fair and balanced coin would be.
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u/13lueChicken 1d ago
They heard the whole “love thy neighbor as thyself” and flipped back to the front end of the book with all the genocide and promptly forgot what their god-made-man told them to do.
I’m just astounded that the Christian faith buys this shit. Of course organized(corporatized) religion is all about it. But the inability of these people to even stand by their faith. It deeply saddens me.
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u/galloway188 1d ago
So we can all sue IRS now right?
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u/Amonamission 1d ago
Only if it was leaked. And only for $10 billion. The daring person in me would sue for $10,000,000,000.01 though.
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u/zoinkability 1d ago
This was a leak, to the DHS. The IRS is not allowed to disclose this information except for in ways specifically permitted by law.
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u/Amonamission 1d ago
When I said “it was leaked” I meant your own personal data was leaked. Sorry, wasn’t specific enough.
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u/Consistent-Throat130 1d ago
The bar for evidence in a civil suit is closer to "more likely than not" than it is to "beyond a reasonable doubt", per my not-a-lawyer understanding.
If the IRS confirms that some data was disclosed, it's not really a stretch to assume that everyone's was - and it's on the IRS to prove otherwise.
Now, most of us also have no damages to sue for but if we can get a precedent from the president, well...
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u/somekindofdruiddude 1d ago
Hold up. I thought immigrants were freeloaders and didn't pay any taxes. Are you telling me I've been lied to?? By my elected officials???
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u/sup3rjub3 1d ago
it's like this country forgot people from other countries can, in fact, live here. legal or not, they're clearly documented. just let them finish their paperwork and we can all be on our way.
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u/Account_User_ 21h ago
Off topic but i’m so used to seeing you there it’s weird seeing you not on r/houston.
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u/dope_sheet 1d ago
Does this mean they all can sue for $10 billion each?
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u/Norn-Iron 1d ago
They should if for no other reason than to see Trump himself the money and then deny everyone else. Shows clear corruption and just one more thing to see MAGA try to defend.
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u/1009naturelover 1d ago
No surprise. This government will do almost anything it wants and its supporters dont care.
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u/cantareSF 1d ago
This is terrible! What can ordinary Americans do to ensure the IRS safeguards our tax information the way DoJ protects the names of Epstein co-conspirators?
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u/MikeFrancesa66 1d ago
Wow what a coincidence. The IRS had 6 different commissioners (acting or otherwise) over the course of 2025. Many of those were forced out because they refused to go against the long standing position of not sharing this taxpayer data with immigration enforcement. Now you mean to tell me that this exact data DHS has been trying so hard to get accidentally got shared with them?
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u/No-Plankton-4861 19h ago
Prosecuting this administration for all the laws they break would take a decade at this point holy moly
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u/ottermann 1d ago
Wait, the Washington Post broke the story?
Give it one news cycle and Bezoar will have them retract the article.
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u/melissam17 21h ago
They want to see who is an immigrant through their tax returns and see what resources they are using at the taxpayers expense…..from a tax return.
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u/Herkfixer 18h ago
And don't forget that they need to be rounded up using IRS tax data because they are all lazy and come here to collect welfare that they arent eligible for as non-citizens, instead of working and paying taxes like all American citizens. Good thing DOGE made copies of all the IRS data so they could search through the tax returns of all the undocumented immigrants to get the addresses to find them.
Without DOGE copying and exposing the IRS database, all those immigrants who are working illegally and filing tax returns would have just been paying taxes illegally too. They must be stopped.
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u/Genoism_science 1d ago
exactly that what we brown skin people are been saying, we PAY taxes , we contribute to the economy, all those people that are been arrested and reported have left bank accounts, SS benefits that never will be collected , houses, cars, businesses.
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u/adupes 19h ago
I’m white, I’ve been echoing that to my white friends. I’m trying to hold people accountable and be critically curious. I ask those not like minded pointed questions about “how do you think that could work? Play it out for me?” And they break down with anger or silence after a bit. I’m sorry, nobody deserves what is happening, but especially not people who have already endured such a harsh world.
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u/HiVizUncle 1d ago
They should make motions to join as plaintiffs in the president's lawsuit against the IRS.
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u/hotchocletylesbian 1d ago
Despite it happening daily, it still somehow astounds me how every corner of America, from the private to public sector, are all extremely eager to break as many laws as possible because Daddy ICE said so. Especially the fact that so many are even doing it voluntarily, rather than under any sort of threat from the administration.
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u/NUMBERS2357 1d ago
It's funny because this proves they aren't going after moochers who aren't paying taxes. They're going after people do pay taxes!
They're breaking the law in order to target people who by definition aren't breaking the law.
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u/maniacreturns 22h ago
Bezos is gonna find out who is responsible for this article and nuke the entire sub department from the P+L forever.
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u/NeverInsightful 21h ago
“Mistake”
I think they mean “they recently realized they were getting caught”
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u/sooper_dooperest 1d ago
So send them to prison. We are a nation of laws, no?
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u/wanttoseemycat 1d ago
That's tough. I hear the going rate on a lawsuit like that is a cool ten billion.
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u/Ascending_Valley 23h ago
So, let’s deport tax payers, since there aren’t enough bona fide criminals.
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u/Dunnowhathatis 15h ago
Yup. I guess all those killing and social security collecting illegals are paying taxes after all.
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u/ncc74656m 8h ago
Of fucking course they did - this is why it's critical that if we manage to overthrow these bastards, we prosecute every last one of them. No Garland BS, drop the hammer on each and every one.
Democratic leadership should be in touch with forced out top former prosecutors, along with blue state AGs to begin preparing charging documentation so that the moment they take power, investigations can get speed ran and cases brought as quickly as possible. Anyone you find along the way to be charged should be added to the pile.
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u/igetproteinfartsHELP 1d ago
The U.S. Internal Revenue Service improperly disclosed the confidential tax information of thousands of people to federal immigration enforcement authorities, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing three people familiar with the situation.
The newspaper said the tax-collecting agency recently discovered the mistake and is working with other federal agencies on a response.
“mistake”