After getting a wave of backlash over a proposal to track all bank transactions of $600, the Biden administration has updated the plan...but it remains a non-starter with critics. The new plan replaces the $600 transaction threshold with a minimum threshold of $10,000 in annual cash flow. That seems like a much higher standard at first glance, but it really isn't. "Ten thousand dollars a year is only about 900-dollars a month," says Joel Griffith, research fellow at the Heritage Foundation. "Nearly everyone who has a job or a checking account in this country has inflows or outflows averaging $900 a month or more...that barely covers the rent in most parts of the country."
The Biden administration claims the plan is a way to go after wealthy tax cheats, but it actually targets Americans of nearly all income levels who are not suspected of doing anything wrong. Griffith believes it's just another way for the federal government to get their hands in our pockets. "They make no bones about it, they hope they will collect hundreds of billions of dollars extra in tax revenue, by in effect having this expanded audit capability," he tells KTRH.
That expanded audit capability should especially concern business owners, according to Griffith. "This is going to increase the risk of audit to millions of small business owners," he says. "And even if those business owners are obeying the law, once you get audited, you are in for a nightmare."
It appears no amount of updates or modifications to this plan will win over critics. "This is a dangerous invasion of privacy," says Griffith. "This gives the IRS unprecedented ability to pry into our financial lives and audit our livelihoods."
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