CHARLESTON — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has joined a 19-state coalition of attorneys general in writing a letter to President Joe Biden and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen opposing a Biden Administration plan to provide the federal government with access to nearly every American’s bank account and financial transaction information.
The attorneys general note that this invasive policy will require all banks, credit unions and financial institutions to report information to the Internal Revenue Service on every bank account that has a balance of at least $600 and exceeds $600 per year in transactions.
“As the chief legal officers of our states, we find this proposal wholly unacceptable and oppose any requirement of its kind,” Morrisey joined in writing. “It is at best overly burdensome and at worst it is illegal. As such, we ask you to rescind this proposal immediately.”
In the letter, the attorneys general argue that banks across the country will have to transform the way in which they conduct business in order to comply with the proposed reporting requirements, including investing significant amounts of money in data collection and other systems.
The letter states that consumers will be punished in many ways, as banks likely would pass on costs in the form of fees or higher interest rates. The plan also would require the centralized storage of sensitive information that would provide cyber criminals with an additional target to exploit information about nearly every American.
The coalition argues that if stopping financial criminals or punishing those who evade taxes is the goal of the administration, they will gladly join to find the right solutions based on the rule of law. They say violating the rights of virtually every American with a bank account, however, is not the answer.
In addition to West Virginia, the coalition includes the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Utah.
Earlier this month, the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce also voiced its opposition to the proposal.