McRae: State Treasury will not comply with IRS data mining proposal

Published 9:54 am Monday, October 25, 2021

Mississippi Treasurer David McRae today announced the State Treasury will not comply with an IRS proposal that would require community banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions to report transactions for any account that exceeds more than $10,000 of activity each year. Even with the $10,000 threshold (increased from $600 in the Biden Administration’s initial draft), nearly every employed Mississippian would be subjected to the enhanced monitoring.

“The federal government is treating working Americans like guilty tax cheats,” said McRae. “The problems with the Biden administration’s proposal are serious and multifaceted. In addition to legitimate concerns about the security of this data, the proposal amounts to the largest data-mining exercise in U.S. history. The Mississippi Treasury will not be complicit in this massive expression of government overreach.”

The State Treasury manages College Savings Mississippi, a 529 savings program that allows families to more easily put away money for college. Many of these accounts would trigger the proposed IRS reporting requirements.

“One of the most concerning aspects of this proposal is that there are no guardrails when it comes to how the IRS can use this data,” continued McRae. “We have seen the IRS weaponize taxpayer data in the past, targeting conservative groups and leaking sensitive information to journalists. I am committed to protecting Mississippians from such abuse.”

According to a survey by the Independent Community Bankers Association, two thirds of voters oppose the IRS surveillance proposal, with more than half strongly opposed.