During August CultNews.com broke a story about IRS employees in Seattle taking controversial training seminars from Landmark Education and it seemed taxpayers were picking up the tab.
IRS never denied the allegations and refused to comment.
A “Freedom of Information Act” (FOIA) request was promptly submitted in August.
Specifically, that request was for information about an admitted investigation of the matter that was conducted by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA).
According to a recent response just received from the Treasury Department dated November 6th there are “three documents,” which are “responsive” that include “two hundred pages.”
However, the Department of Treasury decided to withhold 198 pages.
The two pages they released contained the CultNews.com report run in August.
The reason Treasury Disclosure Officer Melissa D. Stuart gave for withholding information about the matter was that such a “disclosure of information…could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of a third party or parties’ personal privacy.”
Right.
What is in those 198 pages? It appears that they are the work product of the investigation conducted by TIGTA, regarding the IRS employees and their involvement with Landmark Education.
Why is it “an unwarranted…invasion of…privacy” when taxpayers want to find out how the government spends money? Apparently, the IRS thinks such matters are “personal.”
no comment untill now