Nebraska Chamber president: Biden tax-snooping plan is ‘potentially a very bad policy’
(The Center Square) – President Joe Biden’s proposal to allow the Internal Revenue Service the power to look at the bank accounts of average Americans isn’t going over well in Nebraska.
Biden’s plan would require banks to report to the IRS transactions for accounts holding over $600.
State Treasurer John Murante told Fox Business that he would not comply with Biden’s plan that would force banks to report customers’ account transactions of $600 or more.
“My message is really simple. The people of Nebraska entrusted me to protect the privacy of these accounts and I am not going to comply with this. If the Biden administration sues me, we will take it all the way to the Supreme Court. We are going to fight every step of the way,” he told the network.
Bryan Slone, president of the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce & Industry, also has reservations about the proposal. He once worked as a lawyer for the IRS.
“We have, I think most people would agree, the most voluntary compliant tax system in the world,” he told The Center Square. “We have very high rates of voluntary compliance. It’s really key to maintain people’s trust in our tax system and the IRS.”
The key job of the IRS should be helping taxpayers comply, Slone said.
“Virtually every taxpayer wants to comply and it’s the IRS’s job to help them comply,” he said. “Enforcement should be only when necessary.”
Taxpayers should be able to trust that the IRS will only seek data it needs for tax enforcement purposes and when the data is collected, it will be confidential, Slone said.
“My concern with this proposal is that when you get down to $600 transactions, is this really the depth of information the IRS needs for tax compliance or are they collecting a lot more data than necessary? Will it be kept confidential and kept only for tax purposes?”
In order to maintain the system we have, the IRS should not be pulling excess data, Slone said.
“I worry about how much data would be collected on people and whether it would be kept solely for the IRS’ use,” he said. “I see this as potentially a very bad policy from a tax administration standpoint.”
The perception the policy would create among citizens would potentially be damaging, Slone said.
“Perception drives people’s behaviors,” he said. “Even the perception is very dangerous to the amount of voluntary compliance we get in this country. I don’t see this as a move in the right direction.”
Disclaimer: This content is distributed by The Center Square
