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Steel Introduces Bill to Protect Americans’ Finances from Government Snooping

March 8, 2022

(March 7, 2022)Washington, D.C. – To protect American workers from federal snooping on their private financial information, Rep. Michelle Steel (R-CA) led 12 of her House Republican colleagues to introduce the Stop the Nosy Obsession with Online Payments Act of 2022 (SNOOP) Act.

The SNOOP Act would strike a provision of the American Rescue Plan Act, passed into law in March of 2021, that requires gig workers and other small businesses to provide their private, personal information to the IRS. The law requires third-party payment platforms like Paypal, Venmo, Zelle, and others, to report a business’ gross transaction volumes in excess of $600 to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The SNOOP Act will repeal this new reporting modification and return reporting requirements to their pre-2021 status so that payment providers are only required to report information when a payee conducts more than 200 commercial transactions per year in excess of $20,000.

“Government is too big and has no business involving itself in every corner of Americans’ lives,” said Rep. Steel. “I am proud to introduce this legislation to ensure that Americans can continue to live their lives without a distant bureaucrat in Washington, D.C. looking over their shoulder every time they participate in the mobile or digital economy.”

Original cosponsors include Reps. Byron Donalds (R-FL), Ted Budd (R-NC), Tim Burchett (R-TN), Carlos Gimenez (R-FL), Ken Buck (R-CO), Yvette Herrell (R-NM), Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), Neal Dunn (R-FL), David McKinley (R-WV), Tom McClintock (R-CA), Bill Johnson (R-OH), and Dan Crenshaw (R-TX).

Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) introduced companion legislation in the Senate, with 11 cosponsors.

“The Biden Administration’s egregious attempt to invade the lives and finances of the American people is unwarranted, unacceptable, and un-American,” said Senator Hagerty. “I am pleased that Representative Steel is joining me and my colleagues in our effort to stop this Administration’s snooping and protect American taxpayers’ privacy. I urge our colleagues in both chambers to stand up for our small business owners and taxpayers and pass this critical piece of legislation.”