Washington, DC – Last week, Congressman Frank Lucas (OK-03) cosponsored the Prohibiting IRS Financial Surveillance Act, a bill that would ban the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from implementing any new reporting requirements for banks or other financial institutions. The legislation is sponsored by Congressman Drew Ferguson (R-GA) as well as House Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Kevin Brady.

“Like so many Oklahomans, I am deeply concerned about the Biden Administration’s plan to enable the IRS to report the financial standings of hard-working Americans. The Biden Administration’s proposal is a massive invasion of privacy and would place crippling bureaucratic regulations on our communities’ local banks,” said Congressman Lucas. “I’m proud to cosponsor the Prohibiting IRS Financial Surveillance Act, ensuring the protection of Americans’ private information from these overreaching surveillance programs.”

As part of its “Build Back Better” plan, the Biden Administration has proposed implementing a surveillance regime requiring banks and other financial institutions to provide the IRS details on their customers and data for accounts with deposits or withdrawals worth more than $600.

“We should not allow the IRS to invade the privacy of Americans by snooping into their bank accounts,” Congressman Ferguson said. “The Biden Administration and Congressional Democrats have clearly demonstrated their intent to instate a broad financial surveillance regime using Americans’ private financial information. In an attempt to chase down an ill-defined “tax gap” that may not even exist, Democrats are willing to throw caution to the wind, put secure information at risk, and further inflate the unchecked power of the IRS. This IRS surveillance is an invasion of individual’s privacy and with Democrats’ history of weaponizing the IRS for their own political gain, it’s in every American’s best interest that we prevent the use of private financial information for this type of egregious power play.”

“The IRS bank surveillance scheme in the Democrats’ ‘reconciliation’ bill is a dangerous threat to our privacy that targets farmers, families and small businesses,” House Ways and Means Republican Leader Kevin Brady said. “Americans should not accept this, nor Speaker Pelosi’s demand to unleash 80,000 more IRS agents on hardworking taxpayers.”

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