Florida bankers are outraged over a proposal by the Biden administration that would require Americans to share sensitive banking information related to their deposits and withdrawals.
In an effort to curb tax fraud, Biden’s proposal would require said information be reported regularly, with reports tracking expenses of $600 or more.
Florida Bankers Association (FBA) President Alex Sanchez and the state’s Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis released statements stating that Biden’s proposal is an invasion of privacy. Patronis also noted how it could “encourage more underground economy.”
“At the end of the day, I don’t think having Uncle Sam sitting in my bedroom, finding out what I’ve purchased over the last thirty days is any of their business,” said Patronis in a report by News4Jax.com.
In a press release from last week, Patronis said the proposal will drive people into black market economies. He noted that people will be incentivized to participate in more cash transactions which will lead to fewer taxable transactions.
As far as Sanchez, he stated, “It’s just wrong … It’s an incredible invasion of privacy by the Biden Administration, [and] by the Internal Revenue Service.”
Commenting on Biden’s excuse for such a proposal being required to handle tax fraud, Sanchez stated, “I think what the Biden Administration should do is go after the high-income tax evaders that are either persons or corporations and audit them.”
To battle Biden’s proposal, Patronis told News4Jax that he has already directed the Florida Department of Financial Services to try and find a way to allow state residents to be exempt from the proposal if it becomes a law.
In a joint effort between Patronis and 23 other states’ treasurers to shoot down the proposal, a letter was written to President Biden and U.S. Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen, that outlined their opposition towards the proposal.
Additionally, in an op-ed by Patronis published by Florida Politics, Patronis states:
“To the degree Florida can fight back on this — we need to. That’s why I have asked Florida’s Office of Financial Regulation (OFR) to brief the Governor and Cabinet on this issue, notify Florida’s banking community of this threat, and coordinate with my office in developing preemptive actions Florida could take to protect Floridians from the IRS.
The IRS needs less power, not more power, and we’re not going to allow them to intrude into our personal lives without a fight.”
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Casey Owens is a contributing writer for The Florida Capital Star. Follow him on Twitter at @cowensreports. Email tips to caseyowensreports@gmail.com.
Photo “Alex Sanchez” by Florida Bankers Association. Photo “Jimmy Patronis” by State of Florida. Background Photo “Wells Fargo” by Mike Mozart. CC BY 2.0.
Republished with permission from The Florida Capital Star.
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No fan of Brandon’s, but if you were trying to find someone that people despise almost as much as the IRS, bankers would be at the top of that list. Not going to be much empathy for them but this is a privacy issue. At what point does the government just say screw it, we want access to every single detail of your bank account? It’s more than a slippery slope, it’s a mud slide. In today’s economy $600 is nothing.
I think that every politician and their entire family should be full audited and the results posted publicly, every year. They need to justify every single investment they or their family members make no matter how much it is. I have always wondered how Congress members who make about $125,000 a year become millionaires in a few short years after the get elected.
This is an absolutely ludicrous idea. The sheer volume of transactions isn’t an issue to the IRS, who will just analyze the traffic through user accounts to look for any that are out of sync with their W-2s and returns. But it is a burden on all of the banks that have to update their systems to flag every one of the transactions and later send them to the IRS.
I’ve got a hard time rooting for bankers these days. I believe every one of them is taking the path of least resistance and trying to force their employees to be vaccinated. But with regard to these proposed reporting changes, I must root for them. I have trouble seeing how the IRS will catch enough low level fraud to pay for the additional $80B they propose for the IRS, much less make any real change to federal monies available for real issues.
Might be considered a form of kiting, given the fact that DC is run by illiberals who flaunt the law.
Me and my wife are retired, pretty ordinary and typical old people. We each get monthly Social Security and pension deposits into our bank account that exceed $600 totaling 48 individual deposits per year. Plus, we pay-off our two separate checking account balances each month with bank transactions in excess of $600. That another 24 bank transactions that will have to be reported. Occasionally throughout the year, we’ll pay for something that requires another bank transaction in excess of $600. Maybe that’s another 4 or 5.
So, from just two old folks, that’s a total of 76 (48+24+4) transactions that will have to be reported to the IRS. Our bank never had to report any of these for the many years we’ve been banking with them. Now, they may have to start doing so.
Now, multiply our rather modest IRS reporting workload by millions of American households and you soon get literally billions of transactions to report. This additional burden on banks will require hiring more employees and perhaps upgrading data storage and digital processing systems.
Who will pay for all this? You guessed it, US the banking customers. The banks just pass-on their cost increases to their customers like all other businesses.
Thank-you Biden Administration for making our lives better.
@ David,
Hilarious!
Or any transaction over $600 break it up into smaller amounts with more transactions, but no transaction ever going over $599.99.
IF this actually happens, what everyone should do is (I do mean EVERYONE), Open a Checking Account at two different Banks. THEN, everyday, Withdraw $600 from one Account and then Deposit it in the other Account. The next day reverse it. Do this every Day. Can you imagine how overwhelmed the IRS would be within TWO Months?
Why are you publishing misinformation to get people up in arms? The proposal is that the banks give the deposit ANNUAL TOTAL and the withdrawal ANNUAL TOTAL at the end of the taxable year. The same as they do for interest earnings. This is how all of us already get the information to file our taxes.
This is a proposal to help alert of potential tax fraud. Not some plot to invade our privacy.
Good way to muddy the waters and confuse everybody.
Financial institutions, investment companies and even casinos already submit currency transaction reports for transactions $10,000 or more and the threshold can drop to $3,000 for “suspicious” transactions. In addition, financial institutions are required to submit Suspicious Activity Reports (SARS) to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FINCEN) and financial institutions are so very afraid that they will be cited and fined by examining agencies for failing to submit a SAR that they over report and often submit ridiculous information.
The proposed $600 reporting requirement is so onerous and unnecessary that it would only be surpassed if illiberals wanted data on transactions of any amount!
@Dan……… The Money is already in the Bank, If all the Bank has to report is, any Money $600 and up moving in and out, how will the Government know it was Taxed before it was already deposited unless they know where it came from? Paycheck = already Taxed, Funds from a Garage Sale = Not Taxed BUT, they will NOW need to wait until that person files their Taxes to see if that Money was included as Income. In other words, there is NO WAY the Government will be able to know if you paid Taxes on every Dollar you have. THIS is there way to keep you Poor and to keep you in Fear.
Stuffing money in our mattress anyone.
They say there are cargo ships sitting out on the Pacific Ocean because they have know one to unload the ship’s and California has all those ten city full of people with no jobs. Why don’t the shipping Companies put those people to work just like the framers did give them housing and help put people back to work. Instead of claiming there is no one to fill the those positions so they can drive up the prices of everything. Oh I get it so the rich can get richer and the government’s career politicians can create laws that benefit them.
If we dont stop them now they’ll continue to bully the American people and then whats next?
Spreading misinformation are we?
The banks only have to report total input and output over $600. That’s all. It doesn’t list anything. It’s a good way to track untaxed dollars in use mainly by cash apps.
Exactly, it’s time to impeach him Biden, I would like to see his cognitive abilities tested, our country is struggling so much right now and they already know what retired people make through social security, and it would lead to people hiding money like my 92 year old Dad does because he is afraid the Government will take his money if mom goes in nursing home with her 556$ social security check.Tell me what I can do to help stop this! Desantis handled it before , let’s do it again! I’m sharing!!! God be with America as we need him so much as we are in crisis throughout with releasing inmates and gonna give immigrants healthcare and stipend, can he pay for my healthcare????or my husband who put 42 years in ???and we live on little cuz they took 1000 a month off his annuity because he had worked as a teenager nothing right about that and we still haven’t heard if there are enough members for the board ? So sad / real Americans need to stand up!!!!
My second comment was put in at 5:15 p.m. and shows 1:15 p.m.
Would the TR staff please revert to the correct times for the comments, please.
This comment is being put in at 5:16 p.m.
My comment was put in after 5 p.m. to respond to Dan’s comment, but it has been manipulated to show that it is a time of 1:04 p.m.? Why are the comment times being manipulated?
@ Dan…
Don’t go there… No one is spreading misinformation, but appears you are the one trying to manipulate the information. It’s an egregious overreach at the least and a gross illegal Invasion at the most.
Thank you FDA President Mr. Sanchez and CFO Patronis for being proactive and protecting the rights of the citizenry. Your actions are to be commended.