One of the ways that Joe Biden says he will “pay” for the trillions of dollars of spending in his budget reconciliation plan is by imposing more taxes and funneling more money and power to the IRS to go after people. Among the provisions? That banks would be required to give the IRS information on any accounts with more than $600.

So that would mean virtually every American and every business’ bank account would be open to the IRS. Now, given how we saw the IRS used during the Obama-Biden administration and the intrusive autocratic nature of the present Biden administration, does anyone really feel comfortable with the thought that the government would have that much more power over us? This isn’t a situation where you’re talking about probable cause to look into an account; this is a general rule applied to everyone.

Now, more than 40 trade associations are balking at this provision and they’re demanding Congress stop it:

“While the stated goal of this vast data collection is to uncover tax dodging by the wealthy, this proposal is not remotely targeted to that purpose or that population,” the letter said. “In addition to the significant privacy concerns, it would create tremendous liability for all affected parties by requiring the collection of financial information for nearly every American without proper explanation of how the IRS will store, protect, and use this enormous trove of personal financial information. We believe that this program is costly for all parties, not fit for purpose, and loaded with potential for unintended and serious negative consequences.”

The groups argue it would target “almost every American” and question whether the IRS could keep that information secure from hackers and bad actors.

“The undersigned associations representing a cross-section of financial and business interests write to express our strong opposition to a proposal under consideration as part of the reconciliation package that would establish an expansive new tax information reporting regime that would directly impact almost every American and small business with an account at a financial institution,” the letter said. “This proposal would create significant operational and reputational challenges for financial institutions, increase tax preparation costs for individuals and small businesses, and create serious financial privacy concerns. We urge members to oppose any efforts to advance this ill-advised new reporting regime.”

The proposal involves giving the IRS an extra $80 billion dollars to audit people. Republicans state that would basically double the size of the IRS.

The trade associations aren’t the only groups raising questions about the reconciliation bill.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce officially condemned the bill this week, calling it an “existential threat” to the economy.

“This reconciliation bill is effectively 100 bills in one representing every big government idea that’s never been able to pass in Congress,” U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Suzanne Clark said. “The bill is an existential threat to America’s fragile economic recovery and future prosperity. We will not find durable or practical solutions in one massive bill that is equivalent to more than twice the combined budgets of all 50 states. The success of the bipartisan infrastructure negotiations provides a much better model for how Congress should proceed in addressing America’s problems.”

They’re exactly right. Biden wants to make up some of the trillions he’s spending on this plan by increasing taxes on businesses. But then that would either hurt the businesses and/or those businesses would pass those extra costs on to Americans and kill the economy which has already been so grievously harmed by the government during the pandemic. It would be the worst possible thing to do to the economy which has already taken a hit from Joe Biden’s policies. It would leave businesses and the economy in shambles.