Letter to the editor: I support Jaime Herrera Beutler for pushing back

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President Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better” attempts to improve the economy, create jobs and lower costs for families. In his plan, however, he is proposing a surveillance program requiring banks and other financial institutions to provide the IRS details on their customers and data for accounts with deposits or withdrawals totaling more than $10,000. I support Jaime Herrera Beutler for pushing back on this plan as it would cost the people their privacy and their money.

The IRS has had multiple incidents in which individual’s private records maintained by the IRS were leaked to the media earlier this year. Taxpayer records of all incomes were leaked, with no answer about the leak from the IRS to this day. Why give more surveillance powers to an institution that can’t keep a limited access to private information safe? 

Another issue I have with the passing of this legislation is the impact it will have on smaller credit unions and small banks. The lack of employee bandwidth to monitor and report information on every account that would qualify under the $10,000 threshold would mean that almost everyone would be monitored, making it hard on small banks, credit unions, and small businesses to keep up with the demanding provisions of the act. 



Very wealthy people might not mind this provision too much as they have the funds to prevent being monitored by the IRS, but most hardworking people won’t have this luxury, which is why I support Jaime Herrera Beutler’s push back on Biden’s surveillance program.

Caleb Coine / Ridgefield