Resolution Urging Congress to Protect Consumer Privacy in Banking and Financial Transactions

Summary

This model resolution urges Congress to protect consumers from harmful Internal Revenue Service rules, such as burdensome reporting requirements for financial institutions.

Resolution Urging Congress to Protect Consumer Privacy in Banking and Financial Transactions

Resolution Urging Congress to Protect Consumer Privacy in Banking and Financial Transactions


WHEREAS, the Biden Administration and some in Congress have proposed changes to tax information reporting which would require financial institutions to provide the Internal Revenue Service reports of incoming and outgoing transactions from every customer financial account with gross inflows and outflows that range from $600 to $10,000 in a tax year;

WHEREAS, these proposals would require financial institutions to include in the reports a breakdown for physical cash, transactions with foreign accounts, and transfers to and from another account with the same owner, and this requirement would be for both personal and business accounts;

WHEREAS, savings, transactional, loan and investment accounts at those financial institutions would be subject to this proposed new requirement;

WHEREAS, there are real concerns over data privacy and security if this new requirement is put in place. Keeping member and customer account information private and secure is among the primary goals of all financial institutions in this state, and this new requirement at any threshold dollar amount could jeopardize the security of accounts and personal information;

WHEREAS, privacy is cited as one of the primary reasons individuals choose not to open bank accounts, and this proposal lays a foundation for new and future barriers for the unbanked or underbanked;

WHEREAS, financial institutions throughout our state and nation are already subject to many burdensome regulations, and the inclusion of this new, hyper-extensive reporting requirement would deepen that burden in an untenable and destructive fashion for many community-based financial institutions;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the United States Congress must protect consumers from harmful and intrusive Internal Revenue Service rules, such as burdensome reporting requirements for financial institutions.