Nebraska State Treasurer Says He'd Defy Biden Proposal on Personal Bank Accounts and the IRS

Nebraska’s State Treasurer said Thursday he’s willing to defy a proposal in the Biden budget that could require banks to turn over yearly transaction information to the IRS on accounts of more than $600. John Murante and state treasurers and auditors in 24 other states recently sent President Biden a letter opposing the proposal.

“As State Treasurer, I have an obligation to safeguard the personal information of hundreds of thousands of these accounts and it’s absolutely wrong to ask American citizens who haven’t even been accused of wrongdoing to turn over their private bank information to the federal government. There’s no excuse for it.”

Murante, who’s the incoming national chair of the State Financial Officers Foundation, said the proposal would also be a huge burden on banks and other financial institutions and is classic government overreach.

“I don’t typically engage in legislation that’s going through the Congress, but on an issue like this, it’s something that myself and many of my colleagues across the country believe that we have to stand up and fight,” Murante said.

The Biden administration says the country is missing out on billions of dollars in tax revenue and wants to hire more IRS agents to stop rampant tax evasion.