The findings, if representative of the wider US adult population, point to financial privacy being an important matter and that passing data to federal authorities must be done under due process of law.

A survey of 2,000 US adults finds that a large majority of them (79 per cent) think that it is unreasonable to share bank and financial transactions with the federal government. 

The findings from YouGov – if representative – suggest that pushes for greater financial transparency are in conflict with concerns about legitimate privacy, even if demands come from Washington DC.

An overwhelming majority – 83 per cent – think that the government should first obtain a warrant to access financial records, while 17 per cent think that a warrant shouldn’t be needed.

The survey, carried out by YouGov for the CATO Institute, a free market think tank, notes that by law, banks and other financial institutions (such as car dealerships, jewellers and pawn shops) are required to report certain types of purchases people make to financial regulators. And around the world, anti-money laundering laws require banks and other institutions to disclose transactions to revenue authorities. In the European Union, for example, a directive now requires art and auction dealers to pass on such data.

The YouGov survey said that only 21 per cent of respondents think that passing over such data is reasonable.

The results also shed light on how trust in government institutions has been hit in recent years. Cybersecurity attacks and mistakes have also put private data into the public domain. A few days ago, it was disclosed that the Internal Revenue Service had mistakenly published 120,000 individuals’ data before it discovered the error and removed this from its website.

The CATO Institute noted that even in an era of hyper-partisanship, Democrats, Republicans, and independents agree on the privacy issue. Majorities of Democrats (68 per cent), independents (83 per cent), and Republicans (89 per cent) think that it’s unreasonable for their bank to share financial records with the government. Similarly, majorities of Democrats (82 per cent), independents (76 per cent), and Republicans (87 per cent) think a warrant should be needed first.

Americans who identify as “very liberal” were the most likely (41 per cent) group to think it’s reasonable for banks to share customers’ records with the federal government compared with 26 per cent of more “mainline” liberals. Large majorities of both strong liberals (59 per cent) and moderate liberals (74 per cent) think that sharing what people buy with the federal government is unacceptable, CATO said.

YouGov collected responses online from August 17 through 23, 2022.

In some countries, such as Switzerland, disclosing identities of bank clients is a criminal offence (although Swiss banking laws have changed over the past decade, so banks must co-operate with international authorities when information is sought). Scores of countries now routinely exchange information to foil tax evasion under what is caused the Common Reporting Standard (the US is not a signatory to this).

US reporting obligations for tax purposes are almost unique in that citizens must file an annual IRS return regardless of whether they reside in the US or not.