I would like a more specific, a much more specific, example of a bank rejecting a loan applicant based on their google search history as the article implies.
Is this really far fetched? Did you not see what Biden is proposing? Anyone with more than $600 in their bank accounts will have their transactions monitored. They will be mining that data asap.
> Anyone with more than $600 in their bank accounts
I hadn't heard this, but there is indeed such a proposal[1] by the Department of the Treasury dated May 2021. I'm quoting the proposal here from the PDF:
"This proposal would create a comprehensive financial account information reporting regime. Financial institutions would report data on financial accounts in an information return. The annual return will report gross inflows and outflows with a breakdown for physical cash, transactions with a foreign account, and transfers to and from another account with the same owner. This requirement would apply to all business and personal accounts from financial institutions, including bank, loan, and investment accounts, with the exception of accounts below a low de minimis gross flow threshold of $600 or fair market value of $600.
Other accounts with characteristics similar to financial institution accounts will be covered under this information reporting regime. In particular, payment settlement entities would collect Taxpayer Identification Numbers (TINs) and file a revised Form 1099-K expanded to all payee accounts (subject to the same de minimis threshold), reporting not only gross receipts but also gross purchases, physical cash, as well as payments to and from foreign accounts, and transfer inflows and outflows.
Similar reporting requirements would apply to crypto asset exchanges and custodians. Separately, reporting requirements would apply in cases in which taxpayers buy crypto assets from one broker and then transfer the crypto assets to another broker, and businesses that receive crypto assets in transactions with a fair market value of more than $10,000 would have to report such transactions.
The Secretary would be given broad authority to issue regulations necessary to implement this proposal.
The proposal would be effective for tax years beginning after December 31, 2022."
That's not how it's supposed to work here. You are presumed innocent, and the government can't go trolling through your "papers" e.g. bank account records without a warrant.
Without taking a stance on the "how it's supposed to work" claim, the US banking system is already regularly surveilling you for tax purposes without a warrant or any suspicion of a crime -- 1099s, SAR reports.
The IRS thinks it loses $600 billion in revenue annually from owed, but unpaid, taxes ("tax gap"). The Biden admin thinks they can recoup about $46 billion a year in owed, but unpaid, taxes just by adding this reporting measure -- without increasing tax rates at all[1]. This represents something like an additional 2.5% in tax revenue from individuals (which is about ~$1.7T annually).
If you don't illegally evade taxes, (1) this reporting is no threat to you, and (2) you should be mad at your underpaying neighbors who would pay more because of this surveillance program. And if you do illegally evade taxes, you should stop doing so.
