Nixon Administration abuses led to the passage of strict tax privacy laws. That’s one reason moves by DOGE to access sensitive data are so controversial.

The DOGE efforts at the IRS come as the Trump administration is moving to drastically reduce the size of the tax collection agency.

While DOGE says it needs taxpayer data to search out "waste, fraud, and abuse," such a move puts at risk personal information on more than 150 million tax filers.