Congresswoman McMorris Rodgers Joins Letter Against IRS Proposal

After a meeting with credit union advocates last week Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R – WA 5) joined a letter penned by minority leadership to the majority with their concerns around the proposal for considerably more data reporting to the IRS. The letter was also addressed to the Secretary of Treasury and the Commissioner of the IRS, and outlined the concerns with the language currently being considered in the House. We continue to encourage credit union advocates to make their concerns heard and take just a few moments to engage in this important Call to Action to Congress.

The letter was signed by dozens of house members late last week and states:

“The recent spending proposal to include new tax information reporting requirements for financial institutions would not only impose significant compliance costs on our banks, credit unions, and related financial institutions that have served as the backbone of this economy these past 18 months, but also infringe on the privacy of millions of Americans.

Specifically, such a proposal would require financial institutions and other financial services providers report information about the outflows and inflows on accounts over $600 to the IRS every year. However, financial institutions currently report a tremendous amount of data to the IRS, and no evidence has shown that the proposed requirements would substantially aid the IRS’s efforts to close the tax gap beyond the information already at the IRS’s disposal.

Not only would such an overly comprehensive IRS database require significant resources to build, maintain, and protect, but it would make the personal, financial data of millions of Americans vulnerable to attack. Considering the IRS experiences 1.4 billion cyberattacks annually and has experienced multiple data breaches, we should not give this agency additional sensitive data to manage.

Additionally, privacy is one of the primary reasons individuals choose not to open bank accounts. This overreaching proposal, if adopted, would further exacerbate banked/unbanked/underbanked divides.

We hope you will address our concerns as we work to craft a regulatory environment focused on protecting Americans and our financial system, not one focused on raising revenue at the expense of our taxpayers and financial institutions.”

Posted in Advocacy on the Move.