Josh McLeod, the director of government relations for the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), recently appeared on “WPTF Morning News” with Tony Riggsbee. The discussion focused on efforts to repeal a federal law that requires small businesses to report personally identifiable information of each beneficial owner to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) under the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
McLeod expressed concerns about privacy issues related to this database. He mentioned, “President Trump stepped in in March and said, ‘This is invasive. It’s egregious. It’s an economic menace. We’re not going to enforce this.’” Despite these statements, McLeod noted that the mandate is still active and raised concerns about its potential enforcement by future administrations.
The NFIB has called on Congress to repeal this law and urged FinCEN to destroy any data already submitted by small businesses regarding beneficial ownership. Additionally, a lawsuit filed by NFIB challenging this mandate remains unresolved.
The NFIB claims that if the law is not repealed or declared unconstitutional, approximately 32 million small businesses across the nation could be affected by it once again. Businesses failing to comply might face criminal and civil penalties, including fines up to $10,000 and up to two years in federal prison.
For more information on this issue, listeners are encouraged to visit NFIB’s website or listen to the full interview.
