The ordinary American citizen is curious why President Joe Biden intends to enable the IRS to spy on bank accounts, Venmo, PayPal, and cryptocurrency transactions, among other things.
According to the Biden administration, this level of monitoring is necessary to combat tax evasion. According to the Daily Mail, a critical component of Biden's suggested strategy to finance the Democrats' $3.5 trillion budget proposal is to monitor money entering and leaving individual bank accounts.
Banks would be required to disclose to the IRS each deposit and withdrawal from an account under Biden's plan to target audits. The proposal would primarily impact self-employed individuals who record their income and deductions on their own. Additionally, the proposal may target the rich.
Banks opposed the proposal, claiming it would entail excessive effort for little reward.
Other opponents of the plan argue that it may violate the Fourth Amendment, which protects citizens of the United States from unreasonable search and seizure. Patrick Hedger, vice president of policy at the Taxpayers' Protection Alliance, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit advocacy and watchdog group that monitors federal spending and taxation, says it may disproportionately affect lower-income taxpayers who cannot afford to fight tax audits or move their money to offshore accounts.
"You're going to wind up hurting the poorest members of our society... Lower-income Americans have traditionally been the focus of aggressive IRS audits because they lack access to CPAs and attorneys to defend themselves," Hedger told DailyMail.com. "I don't see why they need to be going after people. You know the average Joe."
He added, "You're going to push more folks into small cash transactions; you're going to push more banking offshore — the big fish out there that do have sizable assets that are eligible for taxation offshore."
According to the White House, the proposal will combat tax evasion by ensuring that the IRS is aware of the amount of money in an individual's bank account during a given year and the precise amount moving in and out.
According to the Daily Mail, this crackdown on undeclared income is anticipated to earn $460 billion for the IRS.
What the fuck is this shit...
Omfg… is this man serious? What’s about to happen is he going to fuck it up for the banks
I'm not in favor of expanding IRS powers. My tax person made a minor mistake when filing my returns and they were monitoring me for like the next two years. I've seen them empty folks bank accounts and strong arm others who can't fight em back. NOPE... IRS got too much power already.