Congress is working to pass a $3.5 trillion dollar spending package. Paying for it is a major sticking point. Right now, the Biden administration is posing an idea that farmers, ranchers, and all of rural America should pay attention to.
According to Paul Merski with the Independent Community Bankers of America, “The Biden administration is looking to pay for this $3.5 trillion spending package, they’re looking for ways to offset that cost, and one idea, which is a horrible idea, is to have the IRS look into everyone’s bank account transactions, and it would force banks to report any transaction going into or out of an account of $600 dollars or more. So, basically, every account in America would be monitored by the IRS... as the banks are forced to send in your transaction account information into the IRS.”
He explains how that proposal would generate money to pay for the trillions in spending.
“What that means is, the IRS is assuming everyone is a tax cheat and will start auditing more and more people... As you get that bank account data, it’s going to be very challenging for the IRS to even sort through that or even figure out what’s going on in all these various accounts... we’re talking checking accounts, savings accounts, business accounts, your loans, any cash transactions, any international transactions... It would be like the IRS trying to find a needle in the haystack. It’s crazy!... They pretend that they’re going after wealthy millionaires and billionaires, but our question is, ‘why then do they need everyone’s account transactions sent to the IRS?’”
Merski says that the Independent Bankers handle a lot of business in rural America, and this will have a huge impact on farmers, ranchers, and rural businesses.
“We’re really concerned that customers realize and know that banks are going to be soon forced to report all your financial transactions, even on loans, to the IRS. We feel that customers don’t know what’s going on here in Washington with this proposal, we want to make sure that customers know it’s not the bank sending all this information to the IRS-- it’s the IRS and Treasury and the administration demanding that the banks report all these transactions,” he adds. “So, we want to make sure that the typical American small business owner, farmer, or rancher, they understand what’s going on in Washington and weigh in if this is something that concerns you as it concerns our community bankers. You should really contact your congressman and your senators.”
The ICBA says that this proposal could trigger a lot of false audits and cause burdens for the banks and rural Americans.