NC bankers: Why we oppose plan that could give IRS more data about your bank account

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Bankers: We oppose IRS push for more data

Peter Gwaltney is president and CEO of this North Carolina Bankers Association. Dan Schline is president and CEO of Carolinas Credit Union League

This week, Congress will consider a sweeping proposal, that if enacted, will require banks and credit unions to report to the Internal Revenue Service detailed information on the inflows and outflows of every account above $600.

The legislative proposal is being considered as a source of revenue for the Biden administration’s proposed $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation plan. The Treasury Department says it’s designed to reduce tax evasion and improve collection of taxes that are already due in order to help fund the spending bill.

But the proposal requires banks and credit unions to track the transactions of the individuals and businesses they serve and then report that activity to the IRS and for the IRS to use to identify those who are avoiding paying taxes.

The massive amount of new information that will be submitted to the IRS in connection with this proposal will be unmanageable and of questionable relevance to the calculation of taxable income. Further, this proposal creates massive data security and customer privacy concerns.

Instead of infringing on the privacy of customers and occupying resources that could otherwise be focused on serving local communities, we suggest to members of Congress that they direct the IRS to close any tax compliance gap with data and authority the agency already has. We urge individuals and business served by North Carolina’s banks and credit unions to contact their members of Congress and join us in expressing opposition to this proposal.

Peter Gwaltney

Dan Schline

NC must level the playing field on broadband

The writer is an economics professor and director of the Center for the Study of Free Enterprise at Western Carolina University.

Regarding “Six ways Republicans are stealing local control – and hiding it in the NC budget,” (Aug. 18 Editorial):

Rather than “steal local control,” the proposed measure to limit fees that utility pole owners incur when attaching equipment will bring enormous economic gains to the state. My research estimates that current broadband expansion plans will create $3.5 billion of economic value to the state. Yet this gain can only be realized if existing barriers to broadband deployment are removed. This is what the proposed measure would do.

Today, existing barriers to broadband deployment are keeping nearly 472,000 North Carolinians — primarily in rural communities — from accessing the high-speed internet they need to succeed in the modern world. Utility pole attachments are a key and largely unavoidable input to providing this service. Unfortunately, our state’s current regulations create an unlevel playing field, which gives pole owners (primarily municipal and cooperative electric utilities) a significant concentration of market power that harms the public interest.

Rather than reaching mutually agreeable terms for pole attachment, too many municipal and cooperative pole owners hold up broadband expansion by imposing lengthy timetables, excessive permitting fees, unnecessary pre- and post-construction requirements, and more.

These monopoly tactics too often make broadband deployment economically unfeasible and stall broadband infrastructure expansion, especially to the “last-mile” regions of the state that need internet service the most.

If left unchecked, the unlevel playing field will cause delayed or foregone economic gains across the state, forfeiting $14 to $16 million per month in delay costs that can never be recovered.

Characterizing the proposed measure as a bid to “steal local control” distracts from the importance of closing the digital divide. By proposing statewide policies aimed at reducing the transaction fees and delays currently imposed upon broadband providers when accessing utility poles, leaders in the House are prioritizing the public interest across the state. They are empowering local communities by freeing their broadband future from the inefficient and unfair market power of electric cooperative and municipally owned utilities.

Edward J. Lopez

This story was originally published September 14, 2021 at 2:12 PM.