Crapo: Bank Reporting Scheme is Hugest Dragnet that has Ever Been Proposed for the IRS

Washington, D.C.--In an interview with Larry Kudlow on Fox Business, U.S. Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) discussed the Administration’s proposed financial reporting regime, under which Americans’ private financial information will be reported to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from financial institutions.

Click here to watch the interview. 

“The average American family spends over $60,000 per year on the various things like mortgages, schooling, food and lodging, and so forth.  And this is going to pick up every American.  Don’t let them fool you, that this is not a hugest dragnet that has ever been proposed for the IRS.  It’s all doubling the size of the IRS and hiring a new army of auditors.”

“And it’s not $10,000 transactions this time, it’s a $10,000 total for all of your transactions.  It’s not just banks, it’s not just credit unions.  It’s all financial institutions.  Think PayPal, Venmo, cryptocurrency wallets, credit cards.  The multiple financial institutions that the IRS will now have the ability to snoop in.” 

On Tuesday, October 19, Treasury issued a “fact sheet” outlining select new details on the IRS reporting proposal—a proposal that has not seen the light of day, been provided to Senate Republicans, or received any public or Congressional scrutiny in the form of hearings or a markup of legislative text in the committee of jurisdiction.  Crapo has requested that Treasury provide details of their understanding of whatever it is that constitutes Democrats’ new proposal to monitor personal financial information of virtually all American taxpayers.