Democrats press Palantir about reported creation of IRS ‘mega-database’

The possible creation of a shareable, governmentwide database of Americans’ personal information would be a “surveillance nightmare,” 10 House and Senate Democrats wrote in a letter to the tech company.

A group of Democrats are demanding that Palantir provide Congress with additional information about its contracts with the federal government following reports that the tech company is working with the IRS to create a searchable database of U.S. taxpayers’ records.

In a June 17-dated letter to Palantir CEO Alex Karp, the lawmakers asserted that the company “is enabling and profiting from serious violations of Federal law by the Trump Administration.”

The missive — led by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. — comes after an article published by The New York Times last month said the company’s work with the administration “began as a way to create a single, searchable database for the IRS, but has ...