The IRS wants to spy on your bank records.

 

The IRS wants to spy on your bank records.  The last time we witnessed grotesque malfeasance by the IRS was back in 2012-13, when Lois Lerner oversaw the shameful foot-dragging on approving tax-exempt classifications; she "became the central figure in the 2013 IRS targeting controversy in the targeting of politically-aligned groups, either denying them tax-exempt status outright or delaying that status until they could no longer take effective part in the 2012 election."  I would not trust any of the claims being made to support this newest plan.  Here's Sabrina Eaton at cleveland.com:

A measure that would require financial institutions to report transactions to the Internal Revenue Service on any bank account with a balance of more than $600 has upset Ohio’s community bankers and Republican legislators, who are trying to get the provision removed from budget legislation that’s being written in Congress.

The Treasury Department says the proposal that’s drawing objections and others that would require that more information be sent to the IRS will reduce tax evasion and improve collection of taxes that are already due, generating an estimated $460 billion in tax revenue over ten years. It’s being suggested as a revenue offset for the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill that the Biden administration and Democrats who control Congress are drafting to spend more money on programs that they say would improve health care, education, infrastructure and counter climate change, among other things.

The Treasury Department says the extra data is being sought to target high earners who underreport their tax liabilities.

What a crock.  Improve education and ... good grief … climate change?  Targeting those who “underreport their tax liabilities”? 

Community Bankers Association of Ohio CEO Bob Palmer argues the proposal constitutes a “strong invasion of privacy,” and expressed doubt the data will help IRS catch wealthy tax evaders. He argues that people who have $600 in the bank typically are not wealthy individuals, and says his organization and its counterparts on the federal level are “pushing back at the administration and saying this makes no sense to us.”

. . .

A statement from Gibbs called the proposal “the type of big-brother style intrusion into private information we should all be worried about.

“Americans should not have to worry about the IRS looking over their shoulder whenever they loan money to family members or purchase Christmas presents for their children,” said Gibbs. “There is simply no need for the IRS to be collecting this information, and I urge the IRS to abandon their mass surveillance plans.”

Read the full report here.  

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Big Brother is here : COVID-Tracker App

 

Wahagen Khabayan at The National Pulse reports on a disturbing and invasive App emerging in Massachusetts, and probably already migrating westward:

COVID-Tracker App Installs Itself Without User Consent, 
Including On Parental-Locked Devices.

Massachusetts state officials recently announced the launch of the “voluntary” MassNotify app, which monitors the spread of COVID-19 in the state. The only problem is the app appears to be installing itself on residents’ and their kids’ smartphones, unbeknownst to users, and without their consent.

. . .

The MassNotify app was developed in cooperation with both Apple and Google, and claims to work anonymously and “not track” users’ private information. This claim was made by Republican Governor Charlie Baker, who said this week: “As we embrace our new normal, MassNotify is a voluntary, free tool to provide additional peace of mind to residents as they return to doing the things they love.”

The app notifies users who have been near a person that tested COVID positive, and the tracking is conducted using the Bluetooth. The app claims that the tracking will be “completely anonymous, with no location tracking or exchange of personal information”. Furthermore, it promises to not share any location data or personal information with Google, Apple, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts or other users.

The news creates a disturbing new dimension to privacy laws and even private property concerns as hundreds of users have reported their Android phones have had the app surreptitiously installed, without their prior knowledge.

. . .

The implementation process of the app clearly contradicts the notion of voluntary participation, as well as raising concerns as to what else might be installed remotely without users’ knowledge.

Many in the state had no idea the app had been pushed to their devices until they got a notification. The app also appears to be reinstalling itself once forcibly removed by users.

“Ghost installed without my permission, and keeps sending me push notifications. I removed it and it reinstall itself. This isn’t something I want in my phone, it’s not something that has permission to be on my phone nor should the commonwealth or any other place/company be allowed to put something on my phone without my permission,” said user Beth Silvaggio.

Read the entire report here.

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VDH: Radical new rules for post-America

 

At American Greatness, Victor Davis Hanson identifies ten ways in which America is changing, “maybe permanently.” Below are his “rules” summarized as bullet points.  Click on the link to read his full article;  he elaborates on each rule, and it’s not a pretty picture.

1) Money is a construct. It can be created from thin air. Annual deficits and aggregate national debt no longer matter much. 

2) Laws are not necessarily binding anymore.  

3) Racialism is now acceptable. 

4) The immigrant is mostly preferable to the citizen. 

5) Most Americans should be treated as we would treat little children. 

6) Hypocrisy is passé. Virtue-signaling is alive. 

7) Ignoring or perpetuating homelessness is preferable to ending it.  

8) McCarthyism is good. 

9) Ignorance is preferable to knowledge. 

10) Wokeness is the new religion, growing faster and larger than Christianity itself. 

VDH concludes:

Americans privately fear these rules, while publicly appearing to accept them.

They still could be transitory and invite a reaction. Or they are already near-permanent and institutionalized.

The answer determines whether a constitutional republic continues as once envisioned, or warps into something never imagined by those who created it

VDH is an historian and scholar -- hardly a rabble-rouser.  For his full take on these scary rules, click here.

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Big Brother and facial recognition

 image credit: metro.co.uk

Oddly enough, the state of Massachusetts is considering some legislation that could begin to challenge the Big Tech’s threats to Free Speech. From WND (linked to Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin, which has a paywall, so I cannot vet this report):  

Facial recognition programs are becoming more common. From cameras on street corners to airports and stores, images are being captured continuously, reports Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

But one privacy organization says there’s an opportunity right now for people to encourage one state to become a leader in fighting “invasive government surveillance.”

The Electronic Frontier Foundation said in a report by Hayley Tsukayama that Massachusetts “has a long history of standing up for liberty.”

But lawmakers “need to hear from the people of Massachusetts to say they oppose government use of face surveillance.”

Polling shows 91 percent of likely voters in the state support government regulation of face recognition surveillance, and 79 percent support a statewide moratorium.

For background, the report explains the threat to privacy posed by face surveillance. And the surveillance “chills protest in public places and gives law enforcement unregulated power to undermine due process.”

The report at WND is here. Eyes on Massachusetts…

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