Sen. Richard Shelby and Senator Tommy Tuberville joined their Republican colleagues to introduce a second bill that aims to prevent the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from getting access to American’s banking transaction information.
Senator Tommy Tuberville introduced the first bill addressing the problem Protecting Financial Privacy Act; leading the charge in Congress as the first Member to sound the alarm about Democrats’ latest example of big brother government overreach at the expense of American’s financial privacy.
A Tuberville spokesman pointed out that, “Since then, Democrats have been on the run as negative media coverage and outrage from everyday Americans dominate headlines. Senator Tuberville is glad to see his Republican colleagues in both the House and the Senate join efforts to block this expansion of the role of the IRS and looks forward to working with all involved to fight this radical policy.”
Shelby, the former chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, supports the Prohibiting IRS Financial Surveillance Act, saying that the language of the current pending legislation pushed by democrats goes too far-reaching. The bill would block President Joe Biden’s proposal for financial institutions to report all transactions of $600 or greater to the IRS. Current regulations require financial institutions to report all cash transactions of $10,000 or more.
Senator Shelby stated, “The Biden administration’s misguided plan to let the IRS monitor law-abiding citizens’ private financial information is dangerous and invasive, and will have far-reaching, adverse consequences. This should concern all Americans who value their privacy. I am proud to join many of my conservative colleagues in the fight to keep this deeply-flawed proposal from becoming law.”
The sponsor of the bill second bill, Tim Scott believes Americans should be concerned about this surveillance plan.
Scott stated, “The Democrats’ plan to allow the IRS to spy on the bank accounts of nearly every person in this country, even those below the poverty line, should be deeply concerning to anyone who values privacy and economic inclusion. Of the more than 7 million American households that are currently unbanked, the majority are low-income, rural, and minority Americans. Implementing the Biden reporting scheme will disproportionately harm those who need greater access to our financial institutions and people living paycheck to paycheck. My colleagues and I will not stop fighting the Democrats’ wrong-headed proposal to implement more federal government intrusion into our lives.”
“Every American should be wary of giving the IRS more power and more tentacles into private financial transactions,” said Sen. Scott Crapo, ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee. “The IRS bank reporting proposal is one of the biggest expansions of the agency’s authority we’ve ever seen and is fundamentally flawed. I’m proud to support Senator Scott’s legislation to stop this proposal in its tracks and protect Americans’ personal, private financial information.”
Sen. Tommy Tuberville also spoke out against giving the IRS more power, arguing that he believes most Americans disagree with .
“I am sorry to see that my Democratic colleagues oppose protecting the financial privacy of American taxpayers. That’s a real shame. I think you would be hard-pressed to find a Member of the United States Senate who can honestly say that a majority of their constituents support President Biden’s proposal for the IRS to monitor a $600 or more transaction,” Tuberville stated.
“We ought to be able to stand up together in a bipartisan fashion to reject this radical proposal. I’m confident that the American people will continue to put pressure on their elected representatives here in Washington to reject this plan.”
