The most significant success during the Iowa Bankers Association’s timely visit to Washington, D.C., was the apparent removal of the bank IRS reporting proposal from inclusion in the massive budget reconciliation bill being negotiated by Congress. For weeks, the IBA has been conducting a grassroots and multimedia campaign to defeat the proposal. On Wednesday, Rep. Cindy Axne joined the rest of the Iowa delegation in opposing the proposal.

Axne added her name to a letter to House leadership opposing the Biden Administration’s controversial proposal that would require financial institutions report information on gross inflows and outflows on all accounts above a certain de minimis threshold. On Wednesday, she officially signed on to the letter. She joined 20 other Democrats in calling for the provision to be removed from the spending bill.

“While I certainly think we need to be looking at ways to crack down on wealthy tax dodgers, I oppose implementing something that could scoop up information on middle-class Iowa families and create massive amounts of red tape for our small community banks and lenders,” Axne said in a press release. “We need to ensure the top 1% are paying their taxes, but this proposal goes too far.”

With Axne asking for the proposal to be removed from the spending bill, all six members of Iowa’s congressional delegation have expressed opposition to the provision. Thousands of letters were sent to the delegation through the IBA’s Legislative Action Center, and they truly made a difference. The IBA thanks all members who contributed to the effort.