October 19, 2021

ICYMI: Warren Slams Bank Lobbyists, Republicans for Defending Wealthy Tax Cheats While Hard Working Americans Pay Their Fair Share

Washington, D.C. — In case you missed it, United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) member of the Senate Finance and Banking Committees, held a press call alongside Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, to push back on bank lobbyists’ and Republicans’ disinformation campaign about the IRS information reporting proposal. The revised proposal — which requires additional reporting for accounts with deposits and withdrawals of more than $10,000 — would ensure wealthy tax cheats pay the taxes they owe, and it would raise critical revenue to invest in child care, clean energy, affordable housing, and more. 

In her remarks, Senator Warren slammed bank lobbyists and Republicans for being beholden to corporations and wealthy donors who have trillions in unpaid taxes on the line. Senator Warren argued that the IRS information reporting proposal in the reconciliation bill would help the IRS find the hidden cash of banks’ wealthy clients when they cheat on their taxes without raising audit rates on Americans making less than $400,000. 

At the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee (BHUA) hearing earlier today, Warren received confirmation from Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo that the top 1% of earners in America underpay their taxes by more than $150 billion dollars each year. He added that the strengthened IRS reporting proposal would help crack down on those likely to cheat the tax system while reducing audits on individuals making less than $400,000 a year. You can watch the exchange here. 

Senator Warren’s full remarks are below. 

A fact sheet on the proposal can be found here.

Transcript: Senator Warren’s Remarks on IRS Information Reporting Press Call 

Senator Warren: Thank you very much. Thank you, Senator Wyden, thank you for inviting me to be here today, and thank you for your leadership to make sure that the richest Americans can't cheat on their taxes. 

For years, giant corporations and the wealthy have worked to rig the tax codes so that they can pay lower tax rates than everyone else. And now, as Democrats fight for provisions in the reconciliation package to make things just a little bit fairer, lobbyists are fighting tooth and nail to stop us. 

Third party reporting would help the IRS zero in on tax cheats when the wealthy don't honestly report their income. It is estimated that the wealthiest 1% fail to pay billions of dollars of taxes they owe every year. Just today, the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury estimated that this one item will add up to more than 2 trillion dollars in tax cheating over the next 10 years. 

Bank lobbyists are fighting against our proposal that would help the IRS sniff out the hidden cash of banks’ wealthiest clients when they cheat on their taxes. Under this proposal, the banks would report just two very general numbers to the IRS each year: the total number of dollars that have come into an account, and the total number of dollars that have gone out, not including wage income, W-2 income. This means the IRS can spot when a wealthy tax cheat has millions of dollars flowing into an account, but isn't reporting that money on their tax return. 

Banks and their wealthy clients are outright lying about this proposal, claiming that it would give the IRS information on individual transactions. And many Republicans are backing them up to satisfy their corporate and wealthy donors. It's no surprise that those who have billions in unpaid taxes on the line would gladly spend millions of dollars lobbying against this proposal, because it would help un-rig the tax system just a little bit. 

These tax reforms will help ensure that rich people and giant corporations finally start to pay their fair share. And it's time for Congress to stand against wealthy and corporate interests funding disinformation campaigns and instead stand up for hardworking Americans. By passing sensible tax reforms, we can easily raise trillions of dollars and invest that money in our families. And that's what we should do. 

Thank you, Senator Wyden. 

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