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The article "The Illusion of Financial Privacy" by Nicholas Anthony and J.D. Tuccille discusses how decades of legislation have eroded the financial privacy that Americans believe they still have. It highlights several key points:
  • The Bank Secrecy Act of 1970 required banks to report cash transactions over $10,000 to the government, paving the way for further financial surveillance.[1]
  • The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) of 2010 forced foreign banks to share information about American account holders with the IRS or face steep penalties.[1]
  • The Corporate Transparency Act of 2019 compelled companies to disclose their true owners to the government, ostensibly to combat money laundering and terrorism financing.[1]
  • The CLOUD Act of 2018 allowed law enforcement to access data stored overseas by American tech companies without a warrant.[1]
The authors argue that these laws, enacted under the guise of fighting crime and tax evasion, have significantly diminished Americans' ability to keep their finances private from government scrutiny, contrary to the Fourth Amendment's protections against unreasonable searches.[1]
Sources [1] https://reason.com/2024/05/30/the-illusion-of-financial-privacy/ [2] Reason Magazine - Free Minds and Free Markets https://reason.com [3] Banking | Reason Archives https://reason.com/category/economics/banking/ [4] The Illusion of Financial Privacy - AOL.com https://www.aol.com/news/illusion-financial-privacy-120022081.html [5] Privacy | Reason Archives https://reason.com/category/civil-liberties/privacy/