The following letter has been sent to Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, with a copy to the Cape Gazette:
A congressional proposal to require that banks report to the IRS details of every account with a balance of $600 or more or with more than $600 in transactions in a year generated well-deserved public outcry. The Wall Street Journal reported that House Democrats have proposed to up the reporting threshold to $10,000.
Although thus seems like a concession, consider that a senior citizen receiving $1,100 a month in Social Security benefits would trigger a detailed report to the IRS. So would anyone with a minimum-wage job. Or even many college students, who share monthly rent for off-campus housing.
What is described as an enforcement tool to aid the IRS really is a blatant assault on our individual privacy, already eroded by government and compromised by big businesses that gather and sell our personal data.
A good portion of that information subsequently falls into the hands of hackers and scammers through security lapses, or is leaked from the government itself.
There is an excellent reason why authorities are required to obtain a warrant before accessing our banking records: the Fourth Amendment’s guarantee against unreasonable search and seizure.
For nearly 230 years, authorities have had the ability to conduct searches - involving homes, vehicles, financial records, electronic devices and other personal property - after demonstrating probable cause that the search will yield evidence of a crime.
Of course, even this standard affords far from perfect protection. As we have seen in recent cases involving Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, law enforcement authorities are not beyond manufacturing “facts” or withholding exculpatory evidence in their quest to obtain warrants.
As recently as September 2021, the U.S. Justice Department’s inspector general found “widespread” problems with the FBI’s warrant application process.
Rather than taking steps to curb documented abuses, including baseless warrants and leaks of taxpayer information, the Biden administration seems intent on further eroding our constitutional protections while expanding the power of the federal government to monitor our lives with absolutely no probable cause.
If anything, our federal government requires more independent oversight and more restraint, not more unconstrained access to the personal information of its citizens.
I doubt that the Delawareans who elected you to represent us in Washington support the administration’s desire to erode our right to privacy. I respectfully request that you remember that you are representing the people, not your party, and ask that you vote against the administration’s proposal.
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