IRS Might Need More Staff [Opinion]

Today, the IRS receives reports on your bank and credit union deposits of $10,000 or more.

If the House and Senate agree on every item within the $3.5 trillion Reconciliation Bill that the Blue Party favors, Americans will need more help for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) workforce.

That’s because one item buried in the Reconciliation Bill would require the beleaguered IRS agents and team members to monitor EVERY deposit made to your bank or credit union account.

Not only does the Democratic Party want to know every deposit of $600 or more made to your account(s), they also want to know what you spend $ 600 or more on.

Currently, this would likely be considered a Fourth Amendment violation by Constitutional Scholars , Red Party lawmakers and members, and others.

Some 75,000 dedicated and professional  Americans staff our Internal Revenue Service. They have a duty to collect taxes on citizens and business. They are extremely busy and COVID-19 has impacted services and staffing.

Today the Internal Revenue Service receives reports on your bank and credit union deposits of $10,000 or more. They also receive information on “suspicious“ deposits and transactions. This seems reasonable and has been a longstanding practice.

In full disclosure, I have friends who are career public service officials who work or have worked at the IRS offices at 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue and at 1111 Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C.

This is a great team of 75,000 professionals who have been under-appreciated since the inception of the IRS.  Now some in Congress want to thank them by adding yet another task.

Imagine the work it will take if the 5,000 community banks (those locally owned) and the bigger banks (4,300-plus commercial banks) and the credit unions (5,400 of those) all have to report every time you deposit $600 or wrote a check for $600.00 or use a debit card for a $ 600 transaction?

We don’t see the need for Congress or Senate members to place such a tasking on the banks and credit unions. Nor should the banking records of every American be shared with the IRS.

I understand how difficult banking and lending are. Having served a a co-founder of an lending institution and chairman of its board of advisors, regulatory compliance is a full-time job and banking hasn’t gotten any easier. Any new costs for these services will cost you more in fees.

Perhaps a member of the House or the Senate will be successful in removing this provision of the Continuing Resolution.

This is a proposal that only makes it tougher on the IRS to do its job and will end up costing the banks and credit unions more money as well. Additionally you can’t ask the IRS to take on this work without more staff.

Today the IRS has a annual budget of $12 to $13 billion. To add this work to this Agency will cost millions more in systems and personnel. Yes, that is a lot of money! But to be fair, the U S Department of Health and Human Services has a discretionary budget of $94.5 billion and another 1.4 trillion in mandatory programs. The IRS is a bargain!

If you support or oppose this proposal please let your local member of Congress hear from you. Your U.S. Senator would also like to know your view. Consult your local directory for a phone number of email address.

You may also join our nation’s local banks in opposing this proposal by joining its petition by clicking here.