Bob Barr Criticizes Housing Bail-Out for Including IRS Snooping Provision

Statement

Bob Barr Criticizes Housing Bail-Out for Including IRS Snooping Provision

"When this Congress makes a bad bill, it really makes a bad bill," says Bob Barr, Libertarian Party candidate for president. The Senate's $300 billion housing industry bail-out includes a fingerprint registry for so-called loan originators as well as a requirement that credit card companies and online payment systems turn customer financial data over to the IRS. "The government should avoid infringing the privacy rights of Americans absent a compelling justification," notes Barr. "Legislators shouldn't drop such an important provision into a 630-page bill on another subject at the last minute, in an attempt to prevent the American people from even learning about the latest threat to their liberties."

Indeed, this is precisely "how the Congress should not legislate," notes Barr, a former member of the House of Representatives. "First, the overall housing bill is tainted. The industry helped draft its own bailout and Sen. Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Banking Committee, received a cut-rate mortgage from one of the mortgage companies being bailed out."

Second, "the bill's supporters tossed in a broad requirement for a fingerprint registry of mortgage industry employees that could even include clerical workers," explains Barr. The provision made no sense anyway, since the industry collapse was not caused by convicted felons taking over the mortgage industry.

"Why treat everyone as guilty without any evidence?" Barr asked.

Third, some legislators took advantage of this supposedly "must-pass" bill to add the requirement for credit card companies and major online payment systems, such as Amazon, eBay, and Google, to turn over most credit card transactions to the government. "The legislation even adds back-up withholding for transactions which are entirely legitimate and offer no evidence of tax evasion," says Barr. The measure is supposed to aid tax compliance, but "there has been no discussion, let alone hearings, about the supposed problem being addressed," notes Barr.

Finally, "since many small businesses use their Social Security number as their tax ID, the provision would create a vast new data directory open to identity theft and other abuses." This is precisely the wrong direction for America, since the government has used the excuse of fighting terrorism to steadily increase its surveillance and privacy-busting powers since September 11. "Any new request for increased authority should receive the strictest congressional scrutiny, and not be stashed in a big bail-out bill out of the public view," says Barr.

"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent," Thomas Jefferson told us two centuries ago. That is as true today as it was then. "Only vigilant and active citizens will be able to protect their liberties in the days ahead," notes Barr.

Barr represented the 7th District of Georgia in the U. S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003, where he served as a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, as Vice-Chairman of the Government Reform Committee, and as a member of the Committee on Financial Services. Prior to his congressional career, Barr was appointed by President Reagan to serve as the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, and also served as an official with the CIA.

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