Tracking proposal will hurt consumers

Congress is considering a sweeping proposal that will require financial institutions to report to the Internal Revenue Service detailed information on the inflows and outflows of every account totaling over $10,000 annually. This proposal is detrimental to Tennessee consumers and small businesses.

The proposal requires financial institutions to track the transactions of the individuals and businesses they serve and report that activity to the IRS. The IRS can use this information to identify those who are avoiding paying taxes.

The massive amount of new information that the IRS will collect in connection with this proposal will be overwhelming and of questionable relevance to the calculation of taxable income.

Instead of infringing on customers’ privacy and using resources that could otherwise be focused on serving local communities, we suggest to members of Congress that they direct the IRS to close any tax compliance gap with the data the agency already has.

As the voice for Tennessee credit unions, we urge individuals and businesses served by Tennessee’s financial institutions to tell their members of Congress this proposal is going to hurt, not help, consumers and small businesses.

Fred Robinson

Tennessee Credit Union League