Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) named Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen our October 2021 Porker of the Month for demanding that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) be allowed to use its petrifying powers to investigate every detail of how average Americans are spending their money.

Secretary Yellen is insisting that the IRS should have access to any bank account with transactions greater than $600, meaning every taxpayer is essentially subject to a frightening audit regardless of tax status and whether there is any reasonable cause to believe they have done anything wrong.  This terrible idea has been shoved into President Biden’s $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill which is already chock full of programs that will diabolically damage the economy.  And the IRS has a long history of leaking the financial information of thousands of Americans.  A Morning Consult-ICBA poll found that 67 percent of voters oppose the $600 proposal, 64 percent don’t trust the IRS to monitor financial information, and 54 percent don’t trust the IRS to keep financial data safe.  Instead of listening to American taxpayers, Secretary Yellen wants to invade their privacy and will know what everyone is buying and who they are paying.  If the IRS has access to everyone’s bank account, it will also raise costs and create uncertainty for small businesses and gig economy workers as the economy continues to recover from the pandemic. 

CAGW President Tom Schatz said, “On Halloween, taxpayers should not be worried about ghosts and goblins knocking on their door.  Instead, they should be terrified of the army of IRS agents that Secretary Yellen is creating that will be scrutinizing their finances like a hungry hawk.  While Secretary Yellen claims she want to go after rich tax cheats, there is likely no one in America who transacts business or pays a bill worth less than $600.  There is nothing more frightening than the constant threat of an IRS audit.  Secretary Yellen should be ashamed of herself for pushing an idea that will put taxpayers, small businesses, and the gig economy at risk.  For trying to insert her nose into Americans’ bank accounts, Secretary Yellen was an easy choice for CAGW’s October Porker of the Month.” 

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.  For more than two decades, Porker of the Month is a dubious honor given to lawmakers and government officials who have shown a blatant disregard for the taxpayers.