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When I lived in Arizona in the late 90s and 2000s, I was furious with our government for bailing out all the  financial institutions during the 2007 – 2008 banking crisis.  Instead of putting them all in jail like they deserved, the government’s solution was to pay them billions of dollars for nearly destroying our country.  I wasn’t just mad, it was past that point I was ready to fight. The crisis caused my wife and I to lose our home along with millions of others. I felt so strongly about it that joining the Arizona militia (anti-government group) was the only option I had to channel my anger.  It was fun and at times exciting; but in the end, we didn’t really accomplish all that much.  However, don’t get me wrong; I do not regret anything we did.

I am almost as angry today as I was back then.  Our government is proposing that the IRS be allowed to monitor bank accounts of all citizens with a bank balance of $600 or above.  The monitoring will be used to look for signs through expense or income traffic that indicates you may be hiding financial transactions from government tax collectors.  According to the latest IRS report, the tax compliance rate for taxpayers is 83.7%, much higher than I would have imagined.  That means to me that they’re looking for roughly 17% of taxpayers that are cheating by looking at all taxpayer banking information.  If they find what they think looks suspicious, it will trigger an audit. Could the government actually do this?

According to the Fourth Amendment, The People have a right “to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.” This right is to limit the power of the police to seize and search people, their property, and their homes.   Does the Fourth Amendment protect your bank account?  Bank records are NOT subject to protection under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution (United States vs Miller, 1976).  There are other laws that supposedly protect your bank records, but if the government decides to do this, they will find a way.  This is not some kind of conspiracy theory or fake news.  Research this yourselves; it’s all over the place if you look.

I voted for Biden because I couldn’t vote for Trump.  I mention this because I don’t want my comments to fall on deaf ears.  Both parties are 100% broken and I will not support either any further.  This is another example of how much we have lost over the life of our republic.  I’m not at all sure this law will come to pass, but the fact that it’s even being considered is terrifying!

Wayne Goodnature

Austin, MN