Stolen IRS Files: Why is ProPublica Suddenly Trying to Downplay the Size of Its "Vast Trove" of Stolen Data?

Then: “Vast cache”; “Millions of lines of data”; “investments, stock trades, gambling winnings and even the results of audits”; “not just the tax returns but it also includes the schedules that go into those returns. And the schedules cover things like their self-employment and partnerships and stock trading and things like that.”

Now: “extremely limited set of information”

The president of the progressive news group ProPublica sent a letter to the Wall Street Journal this week claiming that the stolen IRS files in its possession amounted to “an extremely limited set of information about the top 0.001% of individuals.”

Huh?

As noted by the WSJ editorial board in reply:

ProPublica boasted in 2021 that it had acquired “a massive trove of tax information” that “reveals what’s inside the billionaires’ bag of tricks for minimizing their personal tax bills.” Does ProPublica’s president, Robin Sparkman, read her organization’s own coverage? In a letter to the editor, she shrinks that “massive trove” down to “an extremely limited set of information.”

[End of excerpt]

Let’s review how ProPublica previously described the stolen files cache:

“vast trove“

“vast cache“

“vast collection of tax records“

“millions of lines of data“

“vast trove of never-before-seen tax data on thousands of the richest Americans covering more than 15 years.”

“It shows not just their income and taxes, but also their investments, stock trades, gambling winnings and even the results of audits.”

“this is a vast amount of information. It’s not just tax returns. It’s also things like records of stock trades, information that is sent to the IRS about financial activities.”

“large amounts of information on the ultrawealthy, everything from the taxes they paid to the income they reported to the profits from their stock trades.”

“We have all their information, and we have many more. We have thousands of people. We may report on some of these people.”

“What we were trying to do there is explain the vastness of the information that we have. We have millions of rows of data. And it’s not just tax returns but it also includes the schedules that go into those returns. And the schedules cover things like their self-employment and partnerships and stock trading and things like that.” [Video]

What happened over there at the “journalism-as-moral-force” headquarters?

The progressive Pro Publica published the first of its reports coincidentally [cough] at the same moment congressional Democrats and President Biden launched a major tax increase effort.

After voyeuring their way through the private tax files, the progressive team at Pro Publica realized that high-earning Americans do in fact pay a very steep tax rate. So the group desperately contrived something it deemed a “True Tax Rate” based on unrealized gains. As in, “gains” that are not yet real.

Again coincidentally [cough], President Biden and congressional Democrats are trying to impose taxes on unrealized gains.

In an attempt to morally justify their decision to play ball with the thief and commit massive privacy violations, the progressive Pro Publica was sure to note the “lavish” lifestyles of the victims. Their attitude seems to be: We will violate your right to privacy if you reach a certain affluence level.

Pro Publica fashions itself as a government watchdog but is remarkably incurious about the theft itself and the breach of public trust caused by IRS failure to safeguard private files.

And now the group is suddenly trying to downplay the size of its stolen cache. Why?