Senator Takes on IRS Snoops and Bipartisan Big Spenders
“The income tax created more criminals than any other single act of government.”—Barry Goldwater
Senator Cynthia Lummis, a Wyoming Republican, took Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to task for the proposed spying activities the Biden administration is seeking to give the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) earlier this week at a banking, housing and urban development committee meeting.
Lummis also took on her colleagues in both parties for the nation’s debt, which currently stands at $28.8 trillion according to usdebtclock.org.
Under the $3.5 trillion monstrosity bill proposed by President Joe Biden and his fellow Democrats, it includes IRS funding to target the information of Americans. The IRS, under the proposal, would force banks and credit unions to report transaction data over $600.
On an aside, this isn’t the only big brother activity in the works as the proposed $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill includes a mileage tax that would not only deprive Americans of their money but also their privacy.
“There are obvious privacy concerns for all Americans here,” Lummis said at the committee meeting. “And this represents a dramatic new regulatory burden for community banks and credit unions in Wyoming and elsewhere.”
Lummis said that banks would have to hire contractors “to rat on customers,” and have to divert resources to unnecessary software. She also said Americans are not the government’s “subjects,” and they will rightly seek alternatives to the banking system.
“Are you aware of how unnecessary this regulatory burden is? Do you distrust the American people so much that you need to know when they bought a couch or a cow?” Lummis asked Yellen.
“I really disagree with the assessment that you have,” Yellen responded.
Why was Lummis’ assessment wrong? Well, we’re already slaves to the state. After all, as Yellen described, banks already have to report any interest paid over $10 to the IRS and it already collects “a wealth of information about individuals.” So, effectively, Yellen was saying: “Oh, you silly Americans. Did you think you were free?”
Yellen went on to decry Americans, by keeping their own hard-earned money, who “deprive us of the resources that we need to do critical investments to make America more productive and competitive.” Never mind the fact that government does not produce, it takes, and it hates competition.
At least one state has already signaled it will not comply with this new snooping activity if it is approved. Nebraska’s state treasurer John Murante said: “My message is really simple. The people of Nebraska entrusted me to protect the privacy of these accounts and I am not going to comply with this. If the Biden administration sues me, we will take it all the way to the Supreme Court. We are going to fight every step of the way.”
Lummis began her remarks at the committee meeting by taking on the big spenders, making it clear that both parties are to blame.
“Let me say something on behalf of the people I represent in Wyoming,” Lummis said. “This is not pointed to either party. This is pointed to the Congress of United States. It is absolutely irresponsible that we are $28 trillion in debt and that both parties sit here and blame each other for what they both did irresponsibly. It’s absolutely unconscionable what we have done to the people of this country.”
Lummis added: “It’s both parties’ faults, it’s the Congress’ fault and we need to address it. But we’re so busy making each other look like the rat’s rear end that we won’t address the real problems in this country that led us to be $28 trillion-plus in debt and now asking us to get further in debt. I’m horrified. My constituents are horrified. This has got to stop.”
Congress mustered up enough bipartisan support on Thursday to pass a stopgap spending bill to avoid a government shutdown, because apparently we just can’t live without our big government masters. On the $3.5 trillion monster, there is some infighting amongst the Democrats as Senator Joe Machin, of West Virginia, is saying it shouldn’t cost more than $1.5 trillion. Of course, we can’t afford that either so hopefully they can keep fighting and not get any of this done.
Content syndicated from TheLibertyLoft.com with permission.
