Growing Opposition Leads Administration to Recalculate Banking Regulation

WASHINGTON, DC – A group of business leaders both in and out of agriculture are weighing in on a proposal in the Biden administration’s Build Back Better agenda, also known as the reconciliation bill.

In an effort to raise revenue to pay for part of the $3.5 trillion package, Democrats have been looking at a proposal to require all banking institutions to share annual inflow and outflow data on almost every account holder in the country, aimed at rooting out tax fraud.

According to the American Bankers Association (ABA), financial institutions would report data on accounts through an annual report tracking gross inflows and outflows with a breakdown for physical cash, transactions with a foreign account, and transfers to and from another account with the same owner.

So far, the requirement is not in legislative language but is available from the (Department of) Treasury Green Book and would require reporting of “all business and personal accounts from financial institutions, including bank, loan, and investment accounts, with the exception of accounts below a low de minimis gross flow threshold of $600 or fair market value of $600.”

ABA says the small business community and millions of bank customers believe the plan is an unfair overreach that will have significant negative consequences.

Instead, the group suggests first that all taxpayers should pay what they owe and if there are “opaque sources of revenue, let’s focus on addressing that challenge head-on rather than over-collecting information from everyone in the hope that it shines a light on a small number of tax cheats.”

John Kinsella is VP for tax policy at ABA and add that “the IRS currently has significant tools to target those suspected of evading taxes without having to rely on this blunt instrument that will capture the personal financial data of millions of Americans not suspected of tax avoidance”.

The Washington Post is reporting that the Administration is now looking at a new proposal that will instead apply to accounts with more than $10,000 in annual deposits or withdrawals.

“This is something the farm community has done a good job at pushing back on (and) the only way this makes sense is if you’re desperate for dollars” says Senator John Boozman (R-AR), Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Committee. “This is big brother; this is essentially turning your checkbook over to the IRS.”
(SOURCE: All Ag News)