A Burden To Banks & Those Of Modest Means
FSB Among Financial Institutions Opposing Biden's IRS Monitoring Proposal
Also on today’s menu:
Promising Environmental Justice
DES Denies Nefarious Actions
Franklin Savings Bank has taken the unusual step of urging customers to oppose a new IRS reporting proposal, stating in an email blast, “If passed, financial institutions of all sizes will have to capture and report [gross annual inflows and outflows over $600 — from every customer account!] to the IRS and customers. This proposal raises serious concerns with regards to our customers’ privacy. As your community bank, we remain committed to safeguarding your financial information. This proposal threatens our trust by forcing us to share account information with the IRS, which in recent years has failed to protect the personal information of individual taxpayers.”
Franklin Savings Bank is not alone in opposing the proposal. A resolution introduced in the Maine House of Representatives on September 22 urges U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R), Angus King (I), and the rest of the Maine congressional delegation to oppose President Joe Biden’s proposal. The Maine resolution filed by Representative John Andrews states, “President Joe Biden wants the IRS to have automatic access to information about every Americans’ [sic] bank account as well as every PayPal, Venmo, and CashApp account, even if without any accusations of wrongdoing. Andrews called it “an expansion of the surveillance state and it is time to pushback [sic]. … Legislators need to be bold and find ways in their state statutes to legislatively nullify this unconstitutional abuse of power.”
Andrews’ resolution claims that more than 96 million Americans use peer-to-peer payment transaction apps and that transactions greater than $600 will be subject to taxation if President Biden’s proposal is enacted. “Just as the tobacco and vape tax hikes proposed in Congress are regressive and disproportionately harm low-income households, the White House’s IRS empowerment proposal will also inequitably burden those of relatively modest means,” he said.
Promising Environmental Justice
As the Commission To Study Offshore Wind and Port Development approaches a deadline for submitting recommendations to the governor and the legislature, questions about the role of fishermen and others who may be impacted by the project continue to arise.
During the commission’s Sept. 27 meeting at the Pease International Tradeport, Erik Anderson, representing the N.H. Commercial Fishermen’s Association, pressed Mark Sanborn, assistant commissioner of the Department of Environmental Services, about worries that wind towers might disrupt the livelihoods of New Hampshire fishermen.
“If we ever move forward with offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine, there will be a representative of the commercial fishermen from the New Hampshire side, I promise you,” Sanborn assured him.
DES Denies Nefarious Actions
Two officials with the state Department of Environmental Services said the department’s extended review of Granite State Landfill’s applications for a solid waste landfill near Forest Lake State Park in Dalton demonstrates that they are being diligent in their work.
In a telephone interview ahead of Wednesday evening’s scheduled public information session on the project, Mike Wimsatt, director of the Waste Management Division, and Phil Trowbridge, administrator of the Land Resources Management Bureau, said it was a lack of critical information that prompted the Wetlands Board to ask Granite State Landfill — a division of Casella Waste Systems — for an amended wetlands application.
Contrary to speculation that the Wetlands Board would have had to turn down the project as originally proposed, Trowbridge said they could not make a decision because they didn’t have enough information.
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