As the Trump administration vows to crack down on leakers, Republicans in Congress want to hand the Justice Department even more power to punish one extremely specific type of leak: unauthorized disclosures of tax records, which in recent years have exposed the creative accounting of the Trump family and wealthy allies like Elon Musk.

A provision tucked near the end of the GOP’s massive budget bill — at page 1,081 of the 1,082-page text circulated late Sunday — would double the maximum prison sentence for leaking tax returns to 10 years and increase possible fines from $5,000 to $250,000 per violation.

Boosting penalties for leakers may seem an odd fit for a budget bill, much like the “nonprofit killer” provision that was recently nixed without explanation. Because of their tenuous relationship to fiscal matters, the provisions potentially aren’t allowed under the rules for Congress’s budget reconciliation process.

Just don’t ask the main proponent of increasing the penalties for tax return leaks, Republican Rep. Jason Smith of Missouri, if these provisions were appropriate to include.

“Wish I could be helpful, but that’s a question for the Senate parliamentarian,” replied Smith’s communications director, J.P. Freire, by email.

Last session, Smith sponsored a stand-alone bill with identical proposed changes to the tax code that passed the House of Representatives last year but failed to advance in the Senate. Smith is one of President Donald Trump’s main surrogates on Capitol Hill for the budget bill and is also chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, which included his proposal about tax record leaks in its section of the budget bill.

Critics wonder whether increasing prison sentences for journalists’ sources is the best use of legislators’ time.

Critics wonder whether increasing........

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