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Press Releases

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators John Boozman (R-AR) and Tom Cotton (R-AR) joined Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) and their Republican colleagues to introduce the Prohibiting IRS Financial Surveillance Act, a bill to prevent the implementation of Democrats’ plan to give the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) access to the banking transaction information of virtually every American.

“The Biden administration and Congressional Democrats claim this is a ‘scaled back’ version of their plan which will help pay for their massive tax-and-spending spree, but the truth is it will still put Americans’ private financial information at risk, impose a tremendous burden on banks and credit unions, and give the troubled IRS even more power despite serious doubts about its ability to protect the massive amount of data it sweeps up or its usefulness,” Boozman said. “I’m pleased to join my colleagues on this legislation to prevent such an ill-advised, unjustifiable increase of Big Brother’s reach and authority.”

“The Democrats’ plan to allow the IRS to spy on the bank accounts of nearly every person in this country, even those below the poverty line, should be deeply concerning to anyone who values privacy and economic inclusion,” said Scott. “Of the more than 7 million American households that are currently unbanked, the majority are low-income, rural, and minority Americans. Implementing the Biden reporting scheme will disproportionately harm those who need greater access to our financial institutions and people living paycheck to paycheck. My colleagues and I will not stop fighting the Democrats’ wrong-headed proposal to implement more federal government intrusion into our lives.”

The current White House proposal would allow the IRS to access every working American’s financial information by requiring financial institutions to report to the IRS bank account holders’ transactions when the cumulative total of deposits and withdrawals reaches $10,000. Under the Biden reporting requirement, a family whose monthly expenses total just $834 would event be subject to this rule. The Joint Committee on Taxation has analyzed the proposal and found it is likely to impact taxpayers in every income bracket, including those making less than $50,000. The Prohibiting IRS Financial Surveillance Act would block the Biden administration’s proposal and prevent this violation of privacy and unprecedented level of federal government overreach.

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), 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), Mitt Romney (R-UT), 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), Mike Lee (R-UT), Susan Collins (R-ME), Deb Fischer (R-NE) and Rob Portman (R-OH).

Boozman has sounded the alarm on a similar IRS snooping plan and called on the Senate Majority Leader to abandon the overreaching proposal. He wrote a column for The Hill warning of the additional threat to the security of personal information this proposal, if enacted, would pose.