US investigates disclosure of tax records on rich Americans

WASHINGTON - The Treasury Department has asked law enforcement authorities to investigate the disclosure of tax records cited in a media report that showed that some of America's richest people paid little to no income taxes, U.S. officials said on Tuesday.

U.S. media outlet ProPublica said it obtained "a vast trove of Internal Revenue Service data on the tax returns of thousands of the nation's wealthiest people, covering more than 15 years." The data indicated that billionaires including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Tesla founder Elon Musk paid no federal income taxes during some years. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that "any unauthorized disclosure of confidential government information" is illegal.