Ann Wagner: “The Federal Trade Commission recently ranked the St. Louis metropolitan area, my district and hometown, as having the…”

“The Federal Trade Commission recently ranked the St. Louis metropolitan area, my district and hometown, as having the highest rate of identity theft regarding Federal income tax returns. This is absolutely unacceptable and why I introduced the Taxpayer Identity Theft Protection Act. My legislation would require the IRS to issue an identity protection personal identification number, or IP PIN, to any individual who requests one to better protect their Social Security numbers from criminals who are looking to steal their identity and file fraudulent tax returns. Missourians and all Americans deserve peace of mind when filing their taxes with the IRS, but, instead, we are seeing an unconscionable increase in data breaches and identity theft. A new GAO report found many deficiencies in the IRS' security program that blatantly expose taxpayers' personal and financial data. My legislation will help stop this reckless exposure. This essential bill holds the IRS accountable and forces the agency to do the most important job: assist and protect taxpayers. At a time when trust in government is so low, I am committed to fixing this growing problem and providing another level of security to protect Americans from fraudulent activity. ____________________”