Kelly, 20 Republicans unveil bill to prevent IRS overreach into private bank accounts

U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) recently joined 20 of his Republican colleagues to offer legislation that would prevent the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from implementing any new reporting requirements for banks or other financial institutions that they think will infringe upon Americans’ personal banking privacy. 

“Laws such as the Inflation Reduction Act have given the IRS unchecked and unlimited powers. That puts hard-working Americans at greater risks of an audit or other big-government overreach,” Rep. Kelly said on Feb. 22. “We’ve also seen private taxpayer information leaked and breached while in the hands of the IRS in recent years. This legislation will protect taxpayers’ banking privacy and reins in the IRS’s wide-ranging new powers.”

The congressman is one of 20 original cosponsors of the Prohibiting IRS Financial Surveillance Act, H.R. 1010, which U.S. Rep. Drew Ferguson (R-GA) sponsored on Feb. 14 to prohibit the implementation of new requirements to report bank account deposits and withdrawals, according to the congressional record bill summary. 

Among the members who joined Rep. Kelly as an original cosponsor of H.R. 1010 are U.S. Reps. Vern Buchanan (R-FL), Darin LaHood (R-IL), Brad Wenstrup (R-OH), Ron Estes (R-KS), Lloyd Smucker (R-PA), Carol Miller (R-WV), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Blake Moore (R-UT), Michelle Steel (R-CA), and Randy Feenstra (R-IA).

“After years of scandals, including recently lost or destroyed taxpayer returns and personal data leaks, the IRS has more than demonstrated they should not be given further power over our bank accounts,” said Rep. Wenstrup. 

Rep. Estes said the Democrats have “weaponized the IRS” to target taxpayers and small businesses having opposing views. “Now the Biden administration has created an army of 87,000 new IRS agents that can snoop through your personal finances,” he said. “Prohibiting the expansion of the unchecked powers of the IRS will protect Main Street workers and working families.”

Rep. Smucker agreed, noting that the Democrats are essentially telling middle-class Americans that they cheat on their taxes. “No one is safe from the snooping,” he said. “I’m proud to stand with Rep. Ferguson and my Republican colleagues on the Ways and Means Committee to prevent yet another Biden proposal of massive government intrusion.”

“The IRS is a tool used by the Biden administration to spy on and enforce more taxes on hard-working Americans,” added Rep. Miller. “The Prohibiting IRS Financial Surveillance Act will limit government overreach and protect the financial information of Americans from being used against them.”

Rep. Fitzpatrick also called surveillance by the IRS “an overreach” that threatens taxpayers’ privacy, and that families and small businesses don’t need to be burdened by IRS targeting. “This bill puts a stop to that practice,” he said.

At the same time, Rep. Steel said that inflation over the past two years has cost families an extra $10,000.

“The last thing Americans need is to be targeted by the government that exists to serve them,” the congresswoman said. “I am proud to join this bill with Rep. Ferguson to ensure transparency and accountability back to the IRS.”

The private financial data of taxpayers should never be jeopardized or collected by the IRS, agreed Rep. Feenstra, who said “the Biden administration’s plan to track every transaction over $600 between any bank account or payment app is wrong and must be stopped.”

The companion bill, the same-named S. 453, was introduced on Feb. 15 by U.S. Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) and 33 GOP original cosponsors.