Excluding NATIONAL SECURITY issues all this malarkey about "leak" investigation is BULLSH**! Why do I DARE say that?

I'm talking about people in government doing illegal nefarious harmful things Walt. I mean leaking tax information. What would be the purpose of that unless of course a billionaire lies bigly and cheats the government. Tax cheats abound. I have no sympathy for people who break the law. NONE. Now if by their breaking the law I'm adversely impacted I WANT TO KNOW ABOUT IT. Don't you? Do you really want the cheats and liars to get away with it? Are you anti whistleblower in all cases? What would YOU do if you were privy to that going on? Button your lip and go along with it? I think we have an OBLIGATION to out them.. I find your argument specious. No disrespect intended. Right and wrong stands alone in my opinion. Doing RIGHT seems to me to be a proper goal. You say for "political reasons" as if outing wrongdoers does not perform a public service. I don't get it. What am I missing because I just don't buy it. People who are witness to wrongdoing and are going to testify often put their lives in jeopardy. But they want to do the right thing. I see no difference in being witness to a murder and saying what you know and "leaking" what the government is doing that is hurting the people it serves. Sorry. Thank you for your reply and Happy Tuesday to thee and thine! :)

The people whose tax information was released were millionaires/billionaires WHO WERE FOLLOWING THE TAX LAWS.
Their tax records were released for purely political reasons.  "See how terrible these people are for not paying enough taxes."
But they were following the law and doing like every other person filing taxes does - paying as little as possible.
I don't know of a single person who does not claim every exemption they can, in order to reduce their taxes.

Therefore, not only was this leak illegal - the leaker(s) was the only one breaking the law. 
And their only reason for doing so was to cause strife and division in the name of class warfare.

I musta missed it Walt. Whose tax info was published? If they did nothing wrong how could it have harmed them? Seriously. How? Thank you for your reply! :)

You may as well ask: How does it harm someone to have their medical information disseminated?
It erodes faith in the system, when someone is told their information is confidential - but then is published.

We recently had a situation at my work, where we were asked to take a survey of how we enjoyed working here.
The survey said that all answers were anonymous.
Yet 2 months later, each department head was asked to query their employees why their department had such low marks.
Obviously that means the survey answers were not anonymous, as they could be traced back to individual departments.
Trying to find why people gave low marks to the organization ... now, people have even less trust in the organization.

Medical information could be essential to know Walt. If someone in power is hiding a very bad and dangerous medical condition that would not be a good thing would it? If he had epilepsy for example or is a sociopath or psychopath? Would the people have a right to know? Shouldn't all presidents release medical information? I shall ask. Thank you for your reply! :)

We're talking "normal" people here, though.

Suppose you won a lottery with a prize of $200 million. (before taxes)
I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want everybody knowing I suddenly "came into money".
All sorts of scam artists would come looking to get some.
I would hire a financial advisor and tax advisor - and following their legal advice, fill out the forms appropriately and pay low taxes on that prize.
Now, because some journalist thinks the rich don't pay a "fair" amount - my tax filing is leaked to the public.  Including my home address.

That is a whole lot of "supposing" Walt. If I won big money I wouldn't want it known. But I am SMALL POTATOES. Winning a lottery once in my life does not make me subject to the yardstick as the obscenely wealthy billionaires who screw the gubment whenever they can however they can as long as they can. You KNOW that. You are stretching-reaching for something that is irrelevant with respect to me. How many people have won big money in their lives? How many obscenely wealthy deadbeat cheapskates are there in comparison? I'd OF COURSE pay my fair share. I ALWAYS HAVE. Coming into big money wouldn't change me at all. If my medical records were leakeed SO WHAT? I'm DAM* proud of what I have survived. So my tax returns are leaked? SO WHAT? I have nothing to hide. I did nothing wrong. The point is if you have nothing to hide being revealed is not worrisome. Not for me. Would it be for thee? WHY? What do YOU need to hide? See what I mean? Thank you for your reply m'dear! Next Salvo?