Comer, Fry Probe Government Financial Data Sharing Agreements

WASHINGTON—House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and Rep. Russell Fry (R-S.C.) today are conducting oversight of data sharing agreements between and among the Department of Treasury (Treasury), Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). In letters to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Director of the CFPB Rohit Chopra, and Commissioner of the IRS Daniel Werfel, the lawmakers request documents and communications related to the government’s information collection and data sharing activities.

“The Committee has received reports that agreements exist to provide consumer and small business financial transaction data between Treasury, CFPB, and IRS—and potentially other Federal agencies—for tax enforcement or other purposes beyond the stated purpose of the initial information collection. Congress has repeatedly expressed concerns with such types of agreements,” the lawmakers wrote.

In 2021, Congress forcefully pushed back on a Biden Administration proposal for the IRS to broadly collect transaction level data on transactions over $600 to increase audits on the lower and middle class, ultimately forcing the Administration to withdraw the proposal. The Committee is concerned the Administration may be using data sharing agreements for purposes outside information collection requirements, such as tax enforcement.

“We are troubled to hear reports that the Administration may be circumventing the will of Congress by using data collected for approved purposes and reallocating it for different purposes such as tax enforcement. These reports raise questions as to whether the government has failed to abide by information collection requirements by obfuscating the real intent behind a given information collection and circumventing proper rulemaking procedures,” the lawmakers continued.

Read the letter to Secretary Yellen here.

Read the letter to Commissioner Werfel here.

Read the letter to CFPB Director Chopra here.