Young Reintroduces Bill to Block IRS Surveillance, Protect American Taxpayers
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Todd Young (R-Ind.) joined his Republican colleagues on the Senate Finance and Banking Committees to reintroduce the Prohibiting IRS Financial Surveillance Act, which will block future progressive political attempts to make the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) snoop on the private information of American taxpayers.
In 2021, the Biden Administration proposed new requirements that would have directed the IRS to collect the private transaction information of virtually every American. This legislation will protect taxpayers by prohibiting such requirements from ever being implemented.
“Despite warnings from local banks and credit unions, the Biden Administration is insisting that we turn our local financial institutions into IRS agents and violate Americans’ financial privacy,” said Senator Young. “The Prohibiting IRS Financial Surveillance Act will protect law-abiding, tax-paying citizens’ confidential banking information from being handed over to the IRS.”
In addition to Senator Young, Senators Tim Scott, (R-S.C.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), John Kennedy (R-La.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), James Risch (R-Idaho), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), John Thune (R-S.D.), JD Vance (R-Ohio), and Roger Wicker (R-Miss) also cosponsored this legislation.
This bill is endorsed by the Consumer Bankers Association (CBA), Credit Union National Association (CUNA), American Bankers Association (ABA), Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA), U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions (NAFCU), Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), and the National Taxpayers Union (NTU).
“Joe Biden and the Democrats think they can send the IRS to spy on your bank account without the public noticing. Well people noticed. The IRS has an extensive history of mishandling and abusing private taxpayer information. It’s been 617 days since a thief illegally handed the private, personal taxpayer information of Americans to the progressive group ProPublica to publish, yet not a single person at the Treasury Department or the IRS has been held responsible. The IRS doesn’t get more access to our lives when it can’t protect the private information it already collects. Sen. Scott’s bill would prevent the IRS from gaining access to the private transactions of every American. Every Senator should support this bill,” said President of Americans for Tax Reform Grover Norquist.
“The administration’s bank reporting proposal raised numerous concerns about taxpayer privacy and IRS mission creep, with taxpayers and small banks around the country sounding the alarm about its implications. The IRS should be focusing on its core mission of serving taxpayers, and should be modernizing its taxpayer-facing tools to make filing taxes and complying with tax laws easier for families and small businesses. NTU applauds Ranking Member Scott’s efforts to ensure through legislation that this proposal will not be considered by Congress or implemented by the IRS in the near future,” said National Taxpayers Unions.
Full bill text can be found here.