http://www.dailypaul.com/node/66671

Bailout gives IRS authority

to conduct undercover operations

Posted October 4th, 2008 by TraditionalGOPer

The
bailout bill also gives the Internal Revenue Service new authority to
conduct undercover operations. It would immunize the IRS from a passel
of federal laws, including permitting IRS agents to run businesses for
an extended sting operation, to open their own personal bank accounts
with U.S. tax dollars, and so on.

Sens. Max Baucus (D) and Chuck Grassley (R) have been pushing to
make it permanent for a while, claiming (PDF) in April that:
"Undercover operations are an integral part of IRS efforts to detect
and prove noncompliance. The temporary status of this provision creates
uncertainty, as the IRS plans its undercover efforts from year to
year."

There's another section of the bailout bill worth noting. It lets
the IRS give information from individual tax returns to any federal law
enforcement agency investigating suspected "terrorist" activity, which
can, in turn, share it with local and state police. Intelligence
agencies such as the CIA and the National Security Agency can also
receive that information.

The information that can be shared includes "a taxpayer's identity,
the nature, source, or amount of his income, payments, receipts,
deductions, exemptions, credits, assets, liabilities, net worth, tax
liability, tax withheld, deficiencies, over assessments, or tax
payments, whether the taxpayer's return was, is being, or will be
examined or subject to other investigation or processing, or any other
data received by, recorded by, prepared by, furnished to, or collected
by the Secretary with respect to a return."

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10057618-38.html?tag=nl.e433