Press Releases

U.S. Congressman Garret Graves (South Louisiana) joined colleagues in working to stop the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from snooping on Americans' finances while infringing on our constitutional rights. Recently, the Biden Administration issued a proposal requiring banks, credit unions and other financial institutions to share with the IRS information on any account that had transactions exceeding $600. The Department of the Treasury updated the proposal to apply to any account with transactions totaling $10,000 in a year. This would be an average of only $833 a month.

"The IRS is effectively trying to get a warrant for everyone with a job or retirees in America. This proposal deems everyone as suspicious. Our laws allow for the IRS to gain access to financial information when there is justification – a warrant approved by a judge. If this new proposal moves forward, no warrants, no judges, just snooping. We will see an unprecedented infringement of your privacy by the IRS. Essentially, the IRS will be alerted if you had a transaction in excess of a certain amount and flag a ‘reportable event' in the form of a deposit or payment. So, for example, if you make $10,000 a year ($833.33 a month), you'd cross the threshold. Everyone would be deemed a suspect or suspected of wrongdoing. From a teenager working a job through high school or college to a senior citizen on a fixed income – they will all have their finances monitored by the Biden Administration should this proposal move forward. It's none of the government's business if someone spends money on beer, boudin or bread. Congress should pass laws to stop criminals – not deem everyone a suspect or snoop on ordinary, hardworking folks. We will keep working to protect the taxpayers and stop these ridiculous policy proposals," Graves said.

Click here for a PDF version of the letter.

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