Advocacy News – October 21, 2021
The Michigan Chamber of Commerce applauds the Michigan House of Representatives in adopting House Resolution (HR) 174 Tuesday that would urge members of the U.S. Congress to oppose a federal reporting requirement of private customer data by banks and financial institutions across the state and country. The resolution, introduced by Representative Diana Farrington from Utica, addressed a Biden initiative to require financial institutions to report all transactions over $600 from both private and business bank accounts to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). As the Michigan Chamber has previously stated, it is a severe governmental overreach for the federal government to require information sharing from banks without customer consent. As the IRS experiences 1.4 billion cyberattacks per year, this proposal subjects more private information at risk for unwanted exposure, in addition to placing financial institutions between their customers and the federal government.
The adoption of HR 174 occurred the same day that the U.S. Department of Treasury announced an adjusted proposal that increased the originally suggested $600 reporting threshold to $10,000. According to Treasury’s announcement, the “tailored proposal” also removes wage and salary earners, and federal program beneficiaries from those required to report. In recent months, Biden’s proposed $600 threshold received intense scrutiny from both Republicans and Democrats alike, as such a low amount seemed unlikely to capture the original purpose of the proposal – cracking down on tax evasion committed by high-income earners. Instead, many stakeholders including the Michigan Chamber, suggested that the $600 amount would unnecessarily collect private information on all taxpayers, no matter the tax bracket.
For more information on the reporting requirement, please contact Leah Robinson at lrobinson@michamber.com.