US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is gravely concerned about tax evasion, according to remarks she made during an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that aired on October 5. Yellen claims there is a “huge tax gap” and she insists on “hiding” financial information about where the income is coming from.
Janet Yellen Says ‘Information Gathering Is Routine’
The US Treasury Secretary wants lawmakers to advance Biden’s “Plan American Tax Compliance Agenda” in order to solve the problem. The proposed legislation, if passed, would require banks to report all inflows and outflows of at least $600 to the IRS.
In mid-September, Bitcoin.com News reported that Janet Yellen and IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig are asking lawmakers to pass the “American Families Plan Tax Compliance Agenda.” The proposed legislation aims to get all financial institutions to report deposits and withdrawals of $600 or more to the US tax agency, regardless of tax liability. Despite the obvious criticism from the banks, privacy activistsEven state treasurers, Yellen once again defended the idea.
Ostensibly, the tax compliance agenda is targeting high net worth individuals according to the Biden administration. She claimed that the information collected “would be useful indications of where it would make sense for an audit to take place”. During the interview, Yellen was told that a number of Republican lawmakers believe the legislation infringes on financial privacy. Well, of course they do,” Yellen said. The Treasury secretary said the concept is nothing new.
“Currently, on every bank account that earns more than $10 per year in interest, banks report the interest earned to the IRS,” Yellen said. “This is part of the information base that includes W2 and reports on dividends in other income received by taxpayers. So collecting information is routine.” Yellen added:
It’s just a few bits of information about individual bank accounts, and nothing at the transaction level that would violate privacy. Therefore, it does not report individual transactions or anything like that. And it would be easy for banks and other payment service providers to provide it with the other information they already provide.
3 state treasurers think the tax compliance proposal is a mere ‘government overreach’, ‘gross breach of privacy’ and ‘unconstitutional invasion’
There are a lot of people who disagree with Yellen’s statements, saying that reporting is simply routine. Missouri Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick told the press that his government would not comply with Biden’s tax plan.
“I will stand up to this excessive government and protect the privacy of account holders,” Fitzpatrick said. “Handing over their transaction data to the federal government is illegal under Missouri law and a flagrant violation of Missouri citizens’ expectations for privacy when it comes to their personal financial records.” Follow Fitzpatrick:
I will not voluntarily transmit this information to the IRS and will fight in court to prevent any attempt by the federal government to compel my office to comply with this mandate.
Missouri is not the only state that has said it will not comply with Joe Biden’s American Families Plan tax compliance agenda. Both West Virginia and Nebraska said they would not allow the mandate to happen. West Virginia Treasurer Riley Moore has made clear that only mega-banks will benefit from the trend, which he called an “unconstitutional invasion” in a statement sent to the Daily Mail.
“The effect this will have on community banks is similar to the Dodd-Frank effect on doping,” Moore added. “In terms of compliance, any community bank, to be able to comply, putting this kind of system in place would just put them out of business. So who would win? The big banks win. The same banks that were funding the Biden campaign in 2020.” Moore concluded until:
The $600 clause is totally unconstitutional. It’s a massive invasion of privacy, it’s a massive infringement of government. I don’t think any country should comply with this.
What do you think of Biden’s “American Families Plan Tax Compliance Agenda” and Janet Yellen’s defense of the reporting proposal? Tell us what you think about it in the comments section below.
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