Democrats Amend IRS Bank Monitoring Proposal to Include Every Person Making More than $10,000 Annually

Rudy TakalaOct 19th, 2021, 3:28 pm
 
Janet Yellen

Al Drago/Getty Images

Senate Democrats led by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) are set to propose a requirement that banks share information about every person depositing or withdrawing more than $10,000 annually with the Internal Revenue Service.

“Today’s new proposal reflects the administration’s strong belief that we should zero in on those at the top of the income scale who don’t pay the taxes they owe, while protecting American workers by setting the bank account threshold at $10,000,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement hailing the move. She noted that the change was expected to provide an exemption for teachers and firefighters.

The revision comes after backlash against an earlier proposal for banks to report on every customer spending more than $600 in a single transaction, though it was not immediately clear that fewer Americans would be affected by the revised dragnet.

Democrats have suggested billionaires are using such transactions to reduce their tax bill to the tune of more than $160 billion annually, though critics have expressed skepticism and voiced the possibility that such surveillance will be used predominantly against lower-income Americans. Compounding skepticism on Tuesday was the fact that a requirement is already in place for banks to report single transactions in excess of $10,000 to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

“If they don’t outlaw cash completely, Biden and congressional Democrats will criminalize cash transactions over $600,” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) opined on Twitter in the wake of Tuesday’s announcement.

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