Another Step in The Direction of The Total Surveillance State

Since the rise of the Biden administration, we’ve seen continual efforts to intrude on American lives in violation of laws, rules, and regulations, including the Fourth Amendment.

We’ve seen the misuse of FISA secret warrants. We’ve seen FBI goon squads break into people’s homes with automatic weapons and armored personnel carriers when a simple request would have been sufficient. We’ve seen the early stages of the roll-out of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) that will give the government a digital ledger of every purchase you make, every political contribution you donate, every book you buy, every charity you support and much more.

This is on top of GPS surveillance that tracks your whereabouts, and highway electronic toll booths and cameras that know where you’re going and when. Can it get any worse? Yes.

As reported here, the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act created something called the Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) system that became effective on January 1, 2024. The BOI requires all limited liability companies (LLCs) in the U.S., regardless of size, to report detailed personal information on their owners to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

This new rule applies to 33 million companies. LLCs are not mainly used by large corporations. Instead, they are used by small entrepreneurs in businesses such as restaurants, dry cleaners, auto repair shops, construction firms, and everyday American skilled professionals.

FinCEN was established after 9/11 to track terrorist financial activities. I’ve been in their headquarters and worked with them during my time at CIA. But use of this new collection tool will not be limited to terrorists or money launderers as the government claims. It will be used to harass small businesses.

The information will be shared with the IRS and the 80,000 new agents the IRS plans to hire to come after American businesses.

An LLC already reports income to the IRS on its tax return (Form 1065) and reports income shares of its owners on Form K-1. The new BOI law requires far more information including full legal name, birth date, current address, Tax ID number, and other identification such as passport information and a driver’s license. Failure to comply can result in two years in prison for each violation.

In time, this BOI information will be combined with information from the CBDC ledger and profiling with artificial intelligence (AI) to target you for account freezes and worse. With this information in the hands of FinCEN, a small businessperson can kiss his or her freedom and privacy goodbye.

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