Posted by Will (in IL) on Friday, May 18, 2007 at 08:38:19 :
In Reply to: Ebay - IRS posted by jack cain on Thursday, May 17, 2007 at 23:00:53 :
Big Brother continues to want to tell us how to live our lives, but not follow the same rules them selves.
The legislative language in the president's budget would require auction houses, consignment stores and other transaction brokers to collect personal data on customers who conduct 100 or more transactions that generate $5,000 or more in gross income per year.
The IRS proposal would require such businesses to submit a form including name, address and Taxpayer ID Number of each seller that fits those parameters.
Language appeared in the President Bush's budget that would require brokers of personal property - including online auction houses and consignment stores - to collect personal data from customers and to share it with the Internal Revenue Service.
The push to put personal customer information into the hands of the Feds is coming from the U.S. Treasury Department, which is attempting to track down millions in unreported small business income.
"The IRS proposal is disturbing on many levels - not least in that it calls for the collection, storage and transmission of large amounts of sensitive personal information at a time when Internet users are increasingly concerned about identity theft; and when public- and private-sector data breaches have become routine," the CDT said in its posting, which went up earlier this month.
The language in the president's budget, in fact, does not reference the collection of SSNs, only that of TINs. When eWEEK asked a tax spokesperson for the Treasury Department whether TINs have the potential to be used in identity theft, he said that the question stumped him. "I'm not sure if it can be used in identity theft," said Andrew Desouza of the Treasury Department.
A U.S. task force created to stem identity theft just last month urged federal agencies to stop unnecessary collection and storage of Social Security numbers. A two-volume plan issued by the task force - headed up by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and FTC chairman Deborah Platt Majoras - contained recommendations on fighting the scourge of identity theft.
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