WASHINGTON– U.S. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) joined Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) and his Republican colleagues in introducing the Prohibiting IRS Financial Surveillance Act, a bill to prevent the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from implementing Democrats’ plan to give the agency access to transaction information of virtually every American.
The bill is co-sponsored by the ranking members of the Senate Finance and Banking committees, Senators Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Pat Toomey (R-PA.), as well as Senators Mitch McConnell (R-KY), John Thune (R-SD), John Barrasso (R-WY), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Roy Blunt (R-MO), John Cornyn (R-TX), Mike Lee (R-UT), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Steve Daines (R-MT), John Kennedy (R-LA), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Richard Shelby (R-AL), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Richard Burr (R-NC), Todd Young (R-IN), John Hoeven (R-ND), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Jim Risch (R-ID), Mike Braun (R-IN), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Ben Sasse (R-NE), Tom Cotton (R-AR), James Lankford (R-OK), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Rick Scott (R-FL), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Rand Paul (R-KY), John Boozman (R-AR), Susan Collins (R-ME), Deb Fischer (R-NE), and Rob Portman (R-OH).
Background:
- President Biden, Treasury Secretary Yellen, and the IRS are seeking access to every working American’s financial information by requiring financial institutions to report to the IRS each and every withdrawal and deposit that total at least $10,000.
- The “Prohibiting IRS Financial Surveillance Act” would prohibit the Biden administration’s proposed violation of privacy and federal government overreach.
- Under the Biden reporting regime a family whose monthly expenses total just $833 would still be required to be reported to the IRS.
- Nearly every American, even those below the poverty line, would be subject to this proposed reporting regime.
- The Joint Committee on Taxation has analyzed the proposal and found that it is likely to impact taxpayers in every income bracket, including those making less than $50,000.
- Steven Rosenthal at the left-leaning Tax Policy Center concluded the bank reporting requirement proposal would, “in fact, bury the agency in a sea of unproductive information.
Click here to read the bill.