Georgia Businesses Unite to Push Back on Proposed IRS Reporting Requirement
October 7, 2021 – The Biden Administration is pushing a proposal that would require financial institutions to report all banking transactions, personal or business, for every account that has at least a $600 balance or does $50 in transactions per month ($600 annually). This rule would encompass every Georgian with a job or business and would be an infringement on personal and business privacy without any grounds for suspecting tax fraud. The Georgia Chamber and the Georgia Bankers Association oppose this proposal.
“This wrongheaded proposal violates the privacy of almost every American in the name of catching wealthy tax cheats,” says Joe Brannen, President & CEO of the Georgia Bankers Association. “Consumers, small business owners and families should rightly be concerned that their personal financial information will be turned over to the IRS with no assurance their data will be protected from cyber criminals or restricted to this one idea. This costly and intrusive proposal is loaded with harmful potential, and we urge all Georgia citizens to join us in opposing it.”
In addition to the rule’s violation of personal privacy, the proposal is also a threat to personal and business data security and a massive increase in regulatory burden and cost for Georgia’s banks and credit unions.
President & CEO of the Georgia Chamber Chris Clark added, “This blatant overreach by government would place an incredible burden on our state’s financial institutions and the small businesses that make up 99% of Georgia’s business community. It undermines the privacy of everyday Georgians and simply outweighs any hypothetical, unproven gains.”
The proposal is part of the administration’s “tax compliance agenda” of the American Family Plan, and is being included in the $3.5-trillion budget reconciliation package currently in negotiation with Congress. To read this release online or to learn more about pro-job, pro-Georgian efforts of the Georgia Chamber or the Georgia Bankers Association, please visit their respective websites at www.gachamber.com or www.gabankers.com.