A group of lawmakers expressed support of a measure countering potential new Internal Revenue Service (IRS) reporting requirements for banks or other financial institutions as part of a surveillance initiative.
U.S. Rep. Drew Ferguson (R-GA) recently introduced the Prohibiting IRS Financial Surveillance Act to ban the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from implementing the reporting requirements amid privacy concerns, the IRS’s ability to secure bank account information, and the impact on families and small businesses.
Following the Build Back Better plan, the Biden administration has proposed requirements that banks and other financial institutions provide the IRS details on customers and data for accounts with deposits or withdrawals worth more than $600.
“We should not allow the IRS to invade the privacy of Americans by snooping into their bank accounts,” said Ferguson, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee and chief deputy whip of the House Republican Conference. “The Biden Administration and Congressional Democrats have clearly demonstrated their intent to instate a broad financial surveillance regime using Americans’ private financial information. It’s in every American’s best interest that we prevent the use of private financial information for this type of egregious power play.”
House Ways and Means Republican Leader Kevin Brady (R-TX), a proponent of the measure, said the IRS bank surveillance proposal threatens privacy, targeting farmers, families, and small businesses.
“Americans should not accept this, nor Speaker Pelosi’s demand to unleash 80,000 more IRS agents on hard-working taxpayers,” he said.