Posted on 11/18/2021 9:36:56 AM PST by Kaslin
Lost in the shuffle of all the potential revenue-raising proposals being put forward by Democrats to pay for legislation that could end up costing taxpayers more than $5 trillion is a provision that would drastically expand the federal government’s power to monitor Americans’ finances. In light of Uncle Sam’s failures to responsibly safeguard — and tendency to sometimes abuse — the powers he already has over your wallet, giving him even further authority to snoop is a recipe for disaster.
The provision in question would require all types of financial institutions to report gross inflows and outflows from any account with a cash flow of $600 or more over the course of the year. In other words, it proposed to give the IRS details on almost every financial account, be it a traditional checking account, a savings account, or an investment account.
This would represent a massive compliance burden for all but especially for smaller financial institutions, which would be required to report this information on an annual basis. Perhaps even more importantly, it would be an unprecedented intrusion on Americans’ financial privacy.
Of course, you may be thinking this is a problem for tax cheats and deadbeats, not an upstanding citizen such as yourself. You pay your taxes every year, following the letter of the law to the best of your ability. Unfortunately, this proposal could still cost you — quite literally.
For one thing, the IRS has not exactly proved in recent years that it can keep taxpayer data secure. Over just the last five years, at least two times has valuable taxpayer data been compromised and used in an identity fraud scheme — once due to a data breach into an IRS database and once because of an IRS employee. More recently, investigative outlet ProPublica made headlines with a report based on a trove of tax filings it never should have been able to access (the source of which is still unknown).
The agency’s internal controls are a mess. A report last year by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found that 67 requests for taxpayer data should have been monitored for unauthorized access. Instead, less than half were, and only six received complete and accurate audit trails.
While IRS data security is lacking now, it could get even worse when paired with other proposals from the administration. Where the IRS is fairly dysfunctional at its current size, struggling to process tax returns, provide taxpayer services, and even keep its printers functional, the Biden administration has proposed to nearly double the agency’s funding by $80 billion over the next ten years. It’s very likely that a rapidly expanding agency handed a huge increase in the data it has access to would struggle even more to keep it all secure.
Furthermore, following the law isn’t always a protection against government agencies initiating legal proceedings or seizing assets. A report by the Institute for Justice shows that, between 2000 and 2016, Department of Homeland Security agencies have seized over $2 billion in cash from air travelers — over two-thirds of whom were never convicted of any crime.
Most of these travelers did nothing wrong. There are plenty of innocuous reasons for flying with large amounts of cash — one man had $39,500 that he was planning to use to buy a big-rig to start his trucking business, while another woman was flying home and planning to put her father’s life savings of $82,373 in a joint bank account. Both were flying domestically, where there is no obligation to report flying with large amounts of cash. The government seized it anyway under the disturbing practice known as civil asset forfeiture, which gives agencies the power to keep property they allege is involved in a crime.
For one thing, the IRS has not exactly proved in recent years that it can keep taxpayer data secure. Over just the last five years, at least two times has valuable taxpayer data been compromised and used in an identity fraud scheme — once due to a data breach into an IRS database and once because of an IRS employee. More recently, investigative outlet ProPublica made headlines with a report based on a trove of tax filings it never should have been able to access (the source of which is still unknown).
The agency’s internal controls are a mess. A report last year by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found that 67 requests for taxpayer data should have been monitored for unauthorized access. Instead, less than half were, and only six received complete and accurate audit trails.
While IRS data security is lacking now, it could get even worse when paired with other proposals from the administration. Where the IRS is fairly dysfunctional at its current size, struggling to process tax returns, provide taxpayer services, and even keep its printers functional, the Biden administration has proposed to nearly double the agency’s funding by $80 billion over the next ten years. It’s very likely that a rapidly expanding agency handed a huge increase in the data it has access to would struggle even more to keep it all secure.
Furthermore, following the law isn’t always a protection against government agencies initiating legal proceedings or seizing assets. A report by the Institute for Justice shows that, between 2000 and 2016, Department of Homeland Security agencies have seized over $2 billion in cash from air travelers — over two-thirds of whom were never convicted of any crime.
Most of these travelers did nothing wrong. There are plenty of innocuous reasons for flying with large amounts of cash — one man had $39,500 that he was planning to use to buy a big-rig to start his trucking business, while another woman was flying home and planning to put her father’s life savings of $82,373 in a joint bank account. Both were flying domestically, where there is no obligation to report flying with large amounts of cash. The government seized it anyway under the disturbing practice known as civil asset forfeiture, which gives agencies the power to keep property they allege is involved in a crime.
You can say that again.
They eventually returned $8,200 to the local IRS office to hand back the $820 they originally took.
Call the IRS dysfunctional, but my guess is that they want realtime data on bank accounts to use “AI” to compare the amount of money people move and compare it to their payroll as well as their returns and register significant discrepancies. This is the Big Brother way of running pre-audit audits. I doubt it’s about the small fish, even though they were asking for everything above $600, I suspect this is about the more clever fat cats. Either way, it’s still creepy, whether you have something to hide or not
Nope, and things like trials also no longer matter if Kyle is found guilty because the jurors are afraid of retribution from blm if they vote innocent.
Facts don’t matter now. The left invent “New facts” that over-ride the actual facts, and they use intimidation, bullying and violence if anyone objects to the “New Facts”, and there will be no such thing as a fair trial from here on out if Kyle is found guilty.
So,evenif you have nothing to hide In regards to your bank accounts. The left will invent “New Facts” to prove you did have something to hide
We,are entering the age of deceit and lies, where truth becomes a lie, and lies become the truth. The man of lawlessness may soon be here. The left bekeive they can do whatever they want, and if called to,the carpet they feel that they have no obligation to explain themselves or their actions. And sad,y they are right, there isn’t anyone to hold them accountable anymore legally. Even our own Supreme Court sides with their illegal and unconstitutional acts
This is tyranny and re-electing Assistant Democrats is how we got here.
We need a real opposition party.
Will be a moot point what Brandon’s new comptroller takes over - all your bank funds will belong to the Federal government and they will only let you use it if you ask nicely
I think it’s about finding a crime when there isn’t one, or just because they don’t like someone or what they think or what they say or if they act up in some way. They can accuse you of anything, and if you can’t afford a lawyer, you’re screwed. There’s lots of room for abuse with this law. And I hadn’t even thought of the data security issue. What a clusterf that would be.
This is more weaponizing of the IRS.
Targets will be any politician who doesn’t go along with the deep state, and groups of people who don’t vote for democrats.
or go to church, or buy guns, or any category they decide to target. Otherwise, why follow accounts down to $600? It will impact us little guys.
“Mr. Bonemaker, we understand you’ve spent significant amounts of money at the gun store. Also, we note your expenditures at the liquor store. We want to talk to you so step into our car please.”
“Targets will be any politician who doesn’t go along with the deep state, and groups of people who don’t vote for democrats.”
Could this be the reason the overwhelming majority of Republican members of the House and Senate are silent at the unconstitutional actions of the current administration?
A few years ago the IRS, via the bank, made me prove the $300 cash that I deposited came from the sale of something on Craigslist.
Obama swung the loyalties of all federal law enforcement to the party. Now he is doing the same to the IRS, FERC and who knows who else. Biden is the front man, but this is all obama’s actions.
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