LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge signed on to a 20-state letter to President Joe Biden and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen voicing strong opposition to the federal government’s overreaching proposal seeking access to nearly every American’s bank account and financial transaction information. The letter argues that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) proposal to the Biden Administration will require banks to monitor all financial transactions in order to comply with the proposed reporting requirements, including investing significant amounts of money in data collection and other systems. The proposal would monitor every account that has a balance of at least $600 per year and exceeds $600 in transactions.

“Allowing the IRS to comb through the personal financial accounts of Arkansans without suspicion of wrongdoing is a gross invasion of privacy,” said Attorney General Leslie Rutledge. “As the last line of defense for the constitutional rights of Arkansans, I am taking action to stop President Biden’s reckless overreach.”

Not only does the proposal violate Arkansans’ right to privacy, it does so at the expense of burdensome regulations for banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions. The letter argues that consumers will also be punished as banks will likely pass on the costs of this proposal to its customers in the form of fees and higher interest rates.

The coalition’s letter states that if stopping financial criminals or punishing those who evade taxes is the goal of the administration, then the attorneys general will gladly join in support of the effort. However, violating the rights of virtually every American with a bank account is not the answer.

In addition to Arkansas, the coalition’s letter was led by Georgia’s Attorney General and signed on to by attorneys general from: Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and West Virginia.