IRS plan to Catch Tax Dodgers Threatens Taxpayer Privacy
A proposal that would require banks to report annual cash flows for all clients is currently being considered by the House Ways and Means Committee and could wind up being added to Democrats’ $3.5 trillion spending bill, reports the Wall Street Journal.
The plan – which is backed by President Joe Biden, IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen – would have the IRS looking at every bank account with a balance of more than $600. Such a meticulous review would encourage Americans to more accurately report income and could identify “opaque income streams that disproportionately accrue to the top,” said Yellen.
In a letter to lawmakers, a group of 41 industry leaders said the plan was “not remotely targeted” to reveal wealthy tax dodgers and could be used to expose the financial habits of political adversaries (like when the Dems tried to get Trump’s tax returns).
The plan also received pushback from 23 state treasurers and auditors, who signed a letter describing it as “one of the largest infringements of data privacy in our nation’s history.” Nebraska State Treasurer John Murante has already promised to fight the plan if it is signed into law.
Democrats’ proposal comes in addition to the $80 billion already allocated for the IRS to hire additional staff (a boost that is expected to produce an an additional $700 billion in revenue over the next 10 years) and Biden’s plan to heap taxes on wealthy Americans.
“What they’re saying is give us a ton of money, let’s hire a bunch of auditors and we think this will create revenue,” argues Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX).
But the idea is far more insidious than that.
Democrats for years have been trying to infiltrate and influence our personal finances and this proposal could be utilized to control how Americans save and spend their money.
“Do you distrust the American people so much that you need to know when they bought a couch or a cow?” said Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) to Secretary Yellen. “People literally will find alternatives to traditional banks just to thwart IRS access to their personal information not because they’re trying to hide anything, but because they’re not willing to share everything.”
Sources:
The IRS Wants to Look at Your Bank Account
Biden’s proposal to give IRS more info on bank accounts faces criticism
The IRS needs to go after retard joe
Wow Alice, nice pickup. Maybe you not so yellow after all :>)
The IRS should go after anyone who cheats. Dan, do you really think Joe cheats on his taxes? Of course, it’s because a friend told you, right? You are talking out of your a…. again, right? You have no proof, again, right?
This proposal is being pushed back on more for it’s onerous and burdensome aspects, not privacy. The privacy argument, IMO, is somewhat weak because it’s not private already. Because the IRS can already get all and any of this information for specific taxpayers if it wants. This just makes it universal rather than on-demand. And that’s the rub — it’s expensive and time consuming to create this data flow. Not to mention the potential damage for a data breach of this data flow. That’s the main reason the banks are pushing back: it adds considerable cost and benefits them nada.
This calls for banks to disclose all inflow and outflow amounts, ie all deposits and withdrawals. I could care less, they can access that, for me, anytime they want already. Obviously, the government can do nothing with this yuge data flow by itself, so they will create programs that look for patterns that indicate potential irs tax cheating, God knows what that is. It also allows the IRS to have access to all this info, all the time, automatically, not on-demand. Again, that just makes what’s already available easier for the IRS to get to. So, basically all you people working for cash just need to remember not to deposit it and you will be fine :>)
Alice, “could be used to expose the financial habits of political adversaries (like when the Dems tried to get Trump’s tax returns” seems bogus given how long and difficult it was to get Trump’s taxes. If that’s the model, our data is pretty darned secure from this.
IMO, let’s get the tax cheats. Let’s hire extra IRS folk to get the tax cheats, I think the profit will cover the costs. That’s just good business and I expect, business to be berry, berry, good for some time. But the current tools will do for a start, and let’s see where that start takes us before we layer even more costs, process, and security risks into the system. Then we can re-assess and see if this proposal adds enough value to make it worthy of doing.
Either that or let the IRS fund the banks to do it; that will stop it dead in it’s tracks.
I don’t know if the retard cheats or not. But it’s been said, and he should be investigated. Trump was investigated for everything even before he was nominated. Yes, I believe that retard joe and his piece of shit son are crooks. If not, let’s find out And I don’t need proof about Ukraine and China. It’s just that the commiecrats won’t go into it and find out. But I know.how it is. Double standard. But it’s not mine to prove. It’s you commiecrats job to prove that he hasn’t done anything. You people circled the wagons around killery after thousands of emails proving her guilt was destroyed