A bill aimed at blocking expansion of the Internal Revenue Service and its surveillance capabilities was submitted by Tennessee Sen. Bill Hagerty (R) and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott (R) this week. Idaho Senator Mike Crapo and Senate Republican colleagues joined them to introduce the “Prohibiting IRS Financial Surveillance Act.”
“The Biden Administration and Democrats are attempting massive government overreach by hiring thousands of new IRS agents to snoop on the finances of the American people,” said Senator Hagerty in a press release. “I’m pleased to join my colleagues in this legislation that would put an end to any future attempts by our government to spy on Americans.”
“Under the Biden administration and progressive leadership, the IRS has proposed outrageous actions that threaten the privacy of American taxpayers,” said Senator Scott. “In light of this pattern, this legislation will prevent the IRS from taking future steps to encroach on the lives and finances of everyday Americans.”
“Americans are justifiably concerned about providing sensitive customer data to the IRS, an agency with an extensive history of leaks, hacks and other violations of taxpayer confidentiality,” said Senator Crapo. “They loudly rejected the IRS bank reporting dragnet when it was originally proposed, and this legislation will prevent the IRS from turning banks and credit unions into private investigators for law-abiding Americans.”
The bill comes one year after Hagerty introduced his Stop the Nosy Obsession with Online Payments, or SNOOP, Act, a bill to strike the tax code provision inserted by the Biden Administration in the American Rescue Plan that requires third-party payment platforms to report businesses’ gross transaction volumes totaling more than $600 to the Internal Revenue Service. Hagerty resubmitted the legislation at the start of the 118th Congress after the IRS announced a one-year delay in increasing reporting thresholds for third-party payment platforms.
This bill is endorsed by the Consumer Bankers Association (CBA), Credit Union National Association (CUNA), American Bankers Association (ABA), Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA), U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions (NAFCU), Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), and the National Taxpayers Union (NTU).
Since 2004, O’Hern has worked with political campaigns in roles ranging from major projects involving nationwide digital marketing for U.S. Presidential candidates, U.S. Congressmen, state governors, and state representatives. O’Hern’s journalism background includes news reporting and editing for various organizations and news publications in Alabama and Florida since 2002. O’Hern graduated from Samford University in Birmingham, Ala with a degree in journalism and a minor in political science.