WASHINGTON—U.S Senators John Boozman (R-AR) and Tom Cotton (R-AR) joined Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee Ranking Member Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), Finance Committee Ranking Member Mike Crapo (R-ID) and over two dozen of their Republican colleagues in introducing the Prohibiting IRS Financial Surveillance Act to 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. 

“The IRS has failed to secure private information and often struggles to provide basic customer service to the millions of American taxpayers it’s accountable to and was designed to serve. It has no business attempting to monitor their every bank transaction and requiring financial institutions to turn over this data. Our bill would ensure the agency stays out of innocent Americans’ personal finances,” Boozman said. 

“The IRS has no business collecting the financial data of millions of Americans. This legislation is necessary to protect against the Biden administration’s proposals that would give the IRS access to personal banking information and threaten the privacy of every American,” Cotton said. 

“Under the Biden administration and progressive leadership, the IRS has proposed outrageous actions that threaten the privacy of American taxpayers,” said Scott. “In light of this pattern, this legislation will prevent the IRS from taking future steps to encroach on the lives and finances of everyday Americans.”

“Americans are justifiably concerned about providing sensitive customer data to the IRS, an agency with an extensive history of leaks, hacks and other violations of taxpayer confidentiality,” said Crapo. “They loudly rejected the IRS bank reporting dragnet when it was originally proposed, and this legislation will prevent the IRS from turning banks and credit unions into private investigators for law-abiding Americans.”

The bill is also cosponsored by Senators John Barrasso (R-WY), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Mike Braun (R-IN), Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), Susan Collins (R-ME), John Cornyn (R-TX), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Steve Daines (R-MT), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), John Hoeven (R-ND), Ron Johnson (R-WI), John Kennedy (R-LA), James Lankford (R-OK), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Rand Paul (R-KY), James Risch (R-ID), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Rick Scott (R-FL), John Thune (R-SD), JD Vance (R-OH), Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Todd Young (R-IN). 

The Consumer Bankers Association, Credit Union National Association, American Bankers Association, Independent Community Bankers of America, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions, Americans for Tax Reform and the National Taxpayers Union have all endorsed the Prohibiting IRS Financial Surveillance Act.