Protecting the Financial Privacy and Security of American Taxpayers

The Biden administration is searching for ways to pay for their partisan $3.5 trillion social policy bill, and one of the Democrats’ proposed solutions is to spy on taxpayers’ bank accounts. This would require financial institutions and service providers to report data on accounts to the Internal Revenue Service to help ensure that Americans are paying their “fair share” in taxes. Democrats claim that this would mostly impact wealthy Americans and businesses, but in reality, this targets virtually all working-class people in our nation. This government overreach would be an enormous violation of privacy, jeopardize the financial security Americans, and impose significant compliance costs on financial institutions.

Through this proposal, Democrats are looking to weaponize the IRS by creating a new surveillance without permission or limits. In order to follow through with tracking all Americans, this provision includes $80 billion to double the number of IRS agents, which would be six times the size of the IRS’ annual budget. This plan was initially included in the massive budget reconciliation bill and has since been removed after push-back from financial institutions and customers, but it is still being considered for passage.

Regardless, my House Republican colleagues and I are doing what we can to protect the financial security and privacy of the American people. I have recently written a letter to Speaker Pelosi, Chairman Neal, Secretary Yellen, and Commissioner Rettig to express my concerns about overburdening the data collection system, exposing millions of Americans to potential cyberattacks, and the negative impact to our economy from the growing distrust of financial institutions.   

Additionally, I signed on to a letter and cosponsored two bills that directly address this pressing issue. The letter, led by Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN-06) to Secretary Yellen, expressed the concern that more and more Americans will unbank due to privacy concerns and distrust, and how applying extra reporting requirements for financial institutions would take away from their daily efforts to help everyday Americans.

I was proud to cosponsor both the Protecting Financial Privacy Act of 2021, introduced by Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA-01), and the Prohibiting IRS Financial Surveillance Act, introduced by Rep. Drew Ferguson (R-GA-03). Hinson’s bill would prohibit any federal agency from requiring financial institutions to report transactions of their customers, and Ferguson’s bill would prohibit the implementation of new requirements to report bank account deposits and withdrawals. These pieces of legislation have garnered tremendous Republican support and would prevent the Democrats’ proposal from becoming a reality.

The U.S. government should not have the authority to spy on the bank accounts of American taxpayers. The Biden administration’s provision would significantly impact the working-class, invade privacy, pose financial security threats for Americans and businesses, and further burden our financial institutions. House Republicans are working tirelessly to put a stop to this government overreach and to protect the American people’s security, privacy, and trust in this great nation.