Published by Breitbart | September 17, 2021
The Biden administration is pressuring lawmakers to enact a controversial plan requiring banks to turn over to the Internal Revenue Service detailed information about inflows and outflows of almost all American bank accounts.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig sent letters to lawmakers this week asking Congress to include in tax hike legislation a requirement that banks report annual transaction data on accounts with $600 or more or that have $600 worth of transaction over the year, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The result would be the collection of detailed data about the bank transactions of tens of millions of everyday Americans.
The aim is to help the IRS collect taxes from individuals and businesses on unreported income and to create more leads for audits.
The Biden administration claims the additional information would result in the IRS collecting an additional $460 billion over a decade. The administration wants to use this additional revenue to offset some of the new spending for expanded government social policies and green new deal schemes Congress is currently considering.
The proposal did not make it into the list of tax change proposals put together by House Democrats. The Wall Street Journal reported that absence is a sign that the proposal lacked support among Democratic lawmakers.
Financial institutions say it would impose a costly compliance burden that would be especially difficult to manage for smaller banks and credit unions. Critics have also said that the IRS lacks the ability to rationally analyze the enormous amount of data it would receive.
Banks and other financial firms already report interest, dividend, and investment income to the IRS. Wages get reported to the IRS and the Social Security Administration.
The IRS can summon bank account information during audits, but taxpayers can fight these requests by showing they are for an illegitimate purpose or irrelevant to the inquiry.
