(RepublicanInformer.com)- Florida Republican Congressman Vern Buchanan penned an op-ed at Fox Business on Monday explaining why he has called on Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig to abandon their scheme to allow the Internal Revenue Service to monitor the bank accounts of Americans.
Ostensibly to find tax cheats, the initial plan was to have banks send to the IRS account data on all accounts with more than $600 in total transactions. After blowback from Republican lawmakers and the banks, the administration increased the amount from $600 to 10,000.
But even with this change, Buchanan believes Americans should still be concerned with the scheme. He points out that the IRS doesn’t exactly have the best track record when it comes to protecting the confidential data of taxpayers. Granting the IRS even more access to Americans’ financial data is a disaster waiting to happen.
Buchanan harkens back to the IRS targeting the Tea Party and other conservative groups ten years ago. Lois Lerner, that politically-motivated IRS official, had no qualms using the information collected by the IRS to target and harass taxpayers for political reasons. That’s not exactly a track record to be proud of.
Buchanan explains that to back up the scheme to have the IRS snoop on Americans’ bank accounts, the Democrats have included almost $80 billion for the IRS in their massive Build Back Better spending plan. They want the IRS to be able to hire an additional 87,000 agents.
It doesn’t take a genius to see what the Democrats are planning to do. Buchanan is right; this should worry you. The weaponizing during the Tea Party targeting scandal is small potatoes compared to this.
And while the latest version of the Build Back Better plan in the House does not include the snooping on bank accounts, Buchanan points out that Senate Democrats are trying to find a way to put it back in.
Arguing that Congress needs to uphold the Fourth Amendment and preserve Americans’ civil liberties, Buchanan said he calls on Pelosi, Yellen, and Rettig “to abandon this ill-advised proposal immediately.” He vows that he will not stop fighting to ensure that “this frightening plan never becomes law.”
