U.S.A. -(AmmoLand.com)- The Biden administration’s plan to fund a multitrillion-dollar spending plan includes having the IRS snoop into every American’s bank account to examine transactions that are $600 or greater. This alarming proposal has implications far beyond the government looking to extract tax money. It is also a potential way for the Biden administration to track who is purchasing firearms.
Treasury Sec. Janet Yellin was on Capitol Hill defending the Biden administration’s proposal.
“I think it’s important to recognize that we have a tax gap that’s estimated at $7 trillion over the next decade,” Sec. Yellen said, according to a Fox Business report. “That is taxes that are due and are not being paid to the government that deprive us of the resources that we need to do critical investments to make America more productive and competitive.”
Not Just Taxes, But Purchases
The Biden administration proposes that banks and credit unions report every transaction at the $600 threshold to counter tax cheats. That’s got privacy advocates howling. It is especially concerning for the firearm industry and its customers that the government would collect information that could potentially include firearm purchases. While many firearms sold might not meet that $600 reporting requirement, a significant number would. It threatens to become a back-door gun registry.
Sec. Yellen balked at the notion the government is intruding on financial privacy, explaining the IRS already has “a wealth of information about individuals,” citing examples such as the W-2 form filed for a person’s job, but said the IRS needs more information on “higher-income individuals who have opaque sources of income … not low-income people.”
U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) grilled Sec. Yellin over the proposal in a Senate hearing.
“There are obvious privacy concerns for all Americans here and this represents a dramatic new regulatory burden for community banks and credit unions in Wyoming and elsewhere,” Sen. Lummis said. “Do you distrust the American people so much that you need to know when they bought a couch? Or a cow?”
Or a gun.
Trust the IRS?
The proposal is being met with fierce resistance, as it should. The IRS has already proven to be untrustworthy of personal information. The agency has been weaponized for political overreach before. The Department of Justice (DOJ) settled a lawsuit in 2017 brought by dozens of conservative groups after the IRS unfairly scrutinized the tax-exempt status of organizations based on political leanings under the Obama administration, while President Joe Biden was vice president. That was the 2013 scandal in which then-Acting Director of Exempt Organizations at IRS, Lois Lerner remained defiant when called before Congress.
It’s also ironic that the Biden administration is prying into Americans’ private expenditures when it just surfaced that President Biden avoided paying $500,000 from earnings on speaking tours and book sales prior to his White House election.
Congressional Opposition
The attempt to track Americans’ spending on items $600 or more, which would include firearm purchases, isn’t sitting well with banks or lawmakers. The American Bankers Association wrote to both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate that the proposal, “…implicates customer privacy and data security on a massive scale…” The letter added that the IRS already collects massive amounts of data it is unable to manage.
Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.), a member of the Senate Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Subcommittee, published a column in The Hill, ripping the proposed reporting requirements as reckless and ripe for abuse.
“Given the IRS’s track record on data security, including a 2015 data breach, tasking the agency to secure additional taxpayer information from nearly every American is a complicated and hazardous gamble, and one the federal government isn’t historically capable of winning.”
Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) introduced the Tax Gap Reform and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Enforcement Act in both chambers as S. 2721 and H.R. 5206. Rep. Brady said in addition to getting a true assessment of the IRS so-called tax gap, “This bill also protects taxpayers from IRS targeting based on their political or religious beliefs and closes loopholes that risk leaking private taxpayer returns.”
Sen. Crapo added, “This legislation places important guardrails around IRS funding to protect taxpayers’ rights and privacy.”
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) introduced S. 2857, the Banking Secrecy Act, to prohibit any Federal agency from requiring financial institutions to report on the financial transactions of their customers. Sen. Tuberville told media he wants Americans to pay their fair share of taxes, “But I don’t want the federal government, ‘big brother,’ to be harassing private citizens.”
The prospect of a government agency monitoring every $600 expense is deeply concerning. When that prospect is also being brought by an administration bent on enacting gun control by any means and proposed for an agency with a poor track record of securing taxpayer privacy, it is a recipe for disaster. The IRS has no place delving into Americans’ wallets, especially when it is a means to access what is in their gun safe.
About The National Shooting Sports Foundation
NSSF is the trade association for the firearm industry. Its mission is to promote, protect and preserve hunting and shooting sports. Formed in 1961, NSSF has a membership of thousands of manufacturers, distributors, firearm retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmen’s organizations, and publishers nationwide. For more information, visit nssf.org
Could this law be used to a gun registry? Yes, certainly but I do not believe that this law is aimed at the 2A. This law is about power and control, nothing more and nothing less. The government wants to control every aspect of your life and this is one more step to that end.
the newly revised 4473 is an easier way to create a national firearms registry. yellen and buyden say this is so everyone pays their fair share of taxes, and then say they are only concerned about the rich paying their “fair” share. yea right! this is what leftists voted. they thought it wouldn’t affect them, now they are able to see how the leftists in power only care about themselves and no one else. good slap of reality in their face. and yes it is only about control. government is only concerned about accumulating power and then wielding it over… Read more »
It’s not just against gun owners it’s against anyone who doesn’t kiss the kings ring.
Every move made is about control these days.
The first revolution was started over far less than this. I wonder what will be the breaking point the next time.
We wiII very soon find out.
America has had two wars, with a tyrannical “foreign” power attempting to control America, on American soil in our history. One with England and the other with Mexico. Both forces came after Americans guns. Both were repelled rather violently. Both lost the resulting conflict England actually lost twice (war of 1812 as well as the revolutionary war). There is little doubt if Joe Biden comes after our guns there will be resistance to such an action. Anyone who knows the history of the twentieth century when somewhere between 170 million and 260 million, (REF; the documentary “Innocence betrayed”) people were murdered by their own government(s) throughout… Read more »
I think we lost the War of 1812. History was 55 years ago.
About to find out
How sad…Breaks my heart. NOT.
At least the shooter was killed. He wasn’t the man they were arresting. They had another man under arrest when the shooter opened fire on the officers. ODMP.org has been reporting almost one or two officers per day being killed. These guys and gals are not our enemy. If you don’t think COVID is real just look at how many cops and correction officers have died from it.
Covid is real. Just not nearly as real as the government and media portray it to be. And I still want our pound of flesh from China.
Its not just this, but consider that THEY want a $15.00 hr. minimum wage, and for a 40 hour week, that is $600.00. And the average price for most firearms, except for some budget models, is over $600.00, but: The real issue is more control. Sen. Lummis mentions community banks and credit unions, but I’m not so sure there are any community banks left thanks to Obama. Bank of America pissed me off so I went to a local bank here in St. Augustine, FL, Bank of St. Augustine. They had one bank, then they opened up a couple of… Read more »
Bank of America is anything but American. Stay away from them.
i call it bank of amigos. they have huge numbers of illegals opening accounts there. no thank you.
one way to foil this plan (admittedly only works for local transactins, mostly) is to dip $5– every day out of your account by the ATM. The ONLY thing they canknow is you snagged five Benjamins. Go back tomorrow and do it again, and as many more times as you need to get the full amount for your intended purchase. Then, when you go buy that $1200 clothes washer, plop all those Bens on the counter. I live in a sales tax state that is very near a non’sales tax state. Amy largere purchase in the “other” state is by… Read more »
we have a tax gap that’s estimated at $7 trillion over the next decade,
Well I have a cure for that problem. How’s about dumping the proposed three and a half TRILLIOIN with a T dollar “infrastructure (read trainloads of “pork”) spending”
This plan would be a serious violation of our privacy and security. No self-incrimination, no government searching information without a warrant, etc.
No. Just plain old fashioned NO.
The problem all America and Americans have is not to little taxation it is to much spending. Nearly every government agency in operation today according to the tenth amendment is unconstitutional if it is not mentioned in the constitution providing for the federal government to control. It belongs to the states or the people. Most of them are not justified in the constitution.
Slavery is unconstitutional too. And having to pay a “tax” on your LABOR is SLAVERY. PERIOD. There is no other way to look at it! It is the 2nd plank of the COMMUNIST MANIFESTO. A PROGRESSIVE GRADUATED “INCOME” TAX. Problem is, how can you have “income” when what you get paid with is actually WORTHLESS?
Pay the mortgage, get a set of tires for the car, a new mattress??? Almost everything costs over $600. I guess that a pack of chewing gum is exempt.
Guess they are pushing us toward a cash based society. Of course they will charge you for criminal ‘structuring’ when you withdraw large amounts of cash. My employer will ONLY use direct deposit for paychecks. So I can only get cash by getting it from the bank. Right now they will seize your assets for making multiple cash deposits exceeding $10k – because obviously you are attempting to avoid the $10k reporting requirement. Will be interesting to see what they do about individuals withdrawing $1k per week as workaround for $600 reporting requirement – withdrawals are reported but not whatever… Read more »
My uncle made a $11k withdrawal two weeks ago. The teller asked him what he was going to do with it. He told her none of your damn business. She said we are suppose to ask.
I’ve made an $18,000 deposit and Wells Fargo got real pushy about where the money came from.They were suspicious when I made two $9000 deposits (split it with the wife). They came at me later asking if I had a photocopy of the check. Who does that?
That’s the time the bank is told ‘adios’.
Wells Fargo does that; worst of the quasi-gvt banks; “customer service” trained to lie & shirk when you need things. Banco de ‘America’ is almost as bad. Chase is also going woke & terrible service. CitiBank = SchittyBank. If you think Wells is nosy, try Bank Of The West, which is now Bank Of The Woke.
Anyone have non-woke alternatives?
500 every two days, never keep more than minimum in bank use gold for guns barter
nothing in safety deposit boxes, look what the people in comifornia are going through, fbi stole their stuff. at least two safes findable one with a few hundred cash and papers
Tough to get paid a salary in gold, or use gold to invest in a diversified portfolio of stocks, or buy real estate.
All we gotta do is drive the banks out of business. It won’t take long with the employees spending all their time communicating with the IRS. Heck, all we really gotta do is, as a nation, is quit paying our federal taxes…..
They’d not be informed of your last coffee purchase.. most cups are under ten bucks. But they WOULD get notice of my last coffee purchase…. bout $1400 for green in whole bags.
What will the cost of the government dweebs analising the data they will collect? WHO is gonna decide whether my coffee buy is “permissible” or is “suspect”? After all, caffeine IS a drug, right?
Biden wants to hire 75,000 to 125,999 new agents. He needs to be stopped in his tracks. How can gun owners vote democrat?
I bought 3 tires yesterday, $639.
irs was weaponized when created, the atf is the end result of irs revenuers tax collectors who tell you what to do waiting for the next waco or ruby ridge how many will standup and disarm these tyrants ???? string them up better
Hitler’s gestapo could only dream of having this power. The stazi actually employed it during the cold war. See East Berlin. Both the gestapo and the stazi were as evil as evil gets and giving them authority to watch bank accounts for withdrawals the size of a grocery run for a family of four is to endow evil with justification, legal justification. The I.R.S. is one of those government entities who received a large portion of the 5.2 BILLION rounds of 40 S & W from obama bin ladin and they have their own swat units. Why is that? We… Read more »
Personally a 20% flat tax would kill me. Living on a disability pension doesn’t leave a huge reserve of money. A flat tax IS a good idea, but people like me would be hammered.
“FAIR” tax solves that problem while eliminating income tax.
https://fairtax.org/
When everyone pays they’re incentivized to keep the rate low & fight gvt spending. No tax on savings. Big incentive to work, save & invest cuts cost of living & enables low tax rate.
Wjy dont you like the idea of a minimal sales tax?
We want a National Retail Sales Tax or “FAIR” tax (which is flat) to abolish income & property taxes. What’s generally called a “flat tax” is still an income tax. Any kind of income tax keeps the IRS up your ass, is a tax on work & savings & building wealth, keeps the tax industry alive, quickly morphs back to the worst abuses.
899 per day from each store, fill tractor trailer drive to Utah, sell it back to comifornia on ebay
Bottom line: Will Rs & certain Ds up for election soon in R states (Manchin-Sinema-Tester) stand firm & block it? Even if it’s in a broader bill?
What’s NRA doing about this? Too busy looting member cash & guns donated to the museum?
https://nraindanger.wordpress.com/2021/10/01/nra-natl-firearms-museum-being-looted/
100% this is happening & how they will track who is purchasing. Digital domain was weaponized long ago. Gun Broker has been taken over, EBay has a complete digital record already of everything (even though firearms are not sold there) including optics, parts accessories are.
Go to Vatican.com & look what they sell & who they represent. I Double Dog Dare you. Figure it out yet ?
https://vatican.com/-/11/346/4583/g17Ebay%20Deal'e16'1/295/
Careful. The most senior goverment employee ever to go to prison was Dennis Hastert (Speaker of the House). He did many bad things in his life, but was not convicted of any of them (not even charged).
He was convicted of something that shouldn’t be a crime – withdrawing small amounts of money on a frequent basis to avoid cash withdrawl reporting requirements. The crime is known as “structuring.” He was also convicted of lying to the FBI about those withdrawls.
Denny spent 13 months in prison.
Sounds like he was following the rules, following the law, and was jailed for it.
I think that this is going to be DATA OVERLOAD. Even with algorithms. Do you realize how many $600 transactions must go on a day in a country of 330 million people? BILLIONS of them. And, how many Insideous Robbery System employees are going to be out there trying to keep track? It’s nothing but FEAR, FEAR, FEAR. Be skerred of the gooberment. If the boogy man fake “virus” doesn’t get you there is a boogy man gooberment agent that will.
““I think it’s important to recognize that we have a tax gap that’s estimated at $7 trillion over the next decade,” Sec. Yellen said, according to a Fox Business report. “That is taxes that are due and are not being paid to the government that deprive us of the resources that we need to do critical investments to make America more productive and competitive.”
REALLY? If anyone can tell me WHAT the deficit is in, I’ll send them 100 pounds of it free of charge and pay shipping. THIS IS BULL CRAP PROPAGANDA!
Solution: write check every month for all of the money in your bank less 10.00, then disburse your funds as you see fit. Don’t buy your money orders from the USPS!
The entire federal government, all branches and at all levels, outside of a small minority of elected legislators, has gone rogue and is out of conrol. The government does not need more money, and I do not want to give them more money; they must spend less. No new “income streams”, NO MORE TAXES!