Tag Archives: U.S. Department of the Treasury

An Idea That Is Long Overdue

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One of the problems with the amount of illegal immigration America has seen in recent years is the fact that people who are here illegally and have no right to work get paid outside the Social Security and tax systems and send much of their earnings back to their home country. This takes a serious amount of money out of the American economy.

On Sunday, Zero Hedge reported:

The Internal Revenue Service and the Department of the Treasury proposed regulations on Friday regarding the new excise tax, established under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, on certain remittances made abroad.

“Beginning Jan. 1, 2026, a 1 percent remittance transfer tax applies to remittances sent from the United States to recipients in foreign countries when the sender provides cash, a money order, a cashier’s check, or other similar physical instrument to the remittance transfer provider,” the IRS said in an April 10 statement.

“The sender is liable for the tax, and remittance transfer providers are required to collect the remittance transfer tax from certain senders, make semimonthly deposits, and file quarterly returns with the IRS. If the remittance transfer provider does not collect the tax from the sender, the tax becomes a liability of the remittance transfer provider.”

The proposed regulations clarify how the remittance transfer tax would be applied.

According to the notice of the proposed rule, the remittance tax is applicable to all eligible transfers irrespective of whether the amount is actually disbursed to the designated recipient.

In case a remittance transfer expires or is canceled and the remittance transfer provider refunds the amount to the sender, the sender can recoup the tax by filing a claim for refund with the IRS.

The tax does not apply to any remittance transfer in which the funds come from a credit or debit card issued in the United States. It is also inapplicable if the funds being sent are withdrawn from an account held in a financial institution.

Any amount that is ultimately transferred to a designated recipient will be taxed, the notice clarified.

The rules affect remittance transfer providers, such as credit unions, banks, and money services businesses, as well as their agents.

The article notes:

Between 2019 and 2024, money transfers to domestic and foreign destinations via money services businesses increased from $1.3 to $4 trillion.

“Money transmitted to foreign destinations (remittance transfers) accounted for 9 to 25 percent of the total money transmissions, equaling $236 billion in 2019, growing to almost $1 trillion in 2021 and 2022, but decreasing to $365 billion in 2024,” the notice said.

“Over 2019–2024, annual remittance transfers to foreign destinations through [money service businesses] averaged $520 billion. The average individual money transfer size ranged from $290 to $740 over the same time period.”

In 2024, President Trump essentially closed the border. Please follow the link above to read the entire article. We are talking about a considerable sum of money.

Fighting A War With Economics

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On Friday, Breitbart reported that U.S. Department of the Treasury is targeting financial institutions and businesses involved in laundering money for the Mayos faction of the Sinaloa Cartel.

The article reports:

The U.S. Department of the Treasury singled out several key leaders and businesses tied to the Mayos faction of the Sinaloa Cartel, including a former mayor in the Mexican state of Baja California. The move targets accounts and money laundering operations, including hotels, restaurants, and bars in the popular beach destination of Rosarito, Baja California.

In their most recent move, U.S. Treasury officials moved to sanction several key leaders of the Mayos faction of the Sinaloa Cartel and their businesses. The sanctions not only freeze any accounts and assets they may have in the United States but also prohibit U.S. citizens and companies from doing business with them. In June, U.S. Treasury officials took similar actions against the Chapitos faction of the Sinaloa Cartel.

The Sinaloa Cartel’s internal war erupted last year after Los Chapitos—sons of imprisoned kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán—allegedly orchestrated the arrest of longtime patriarch Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, triggering a violent split between the cartel’s two dominant factions and reshaping Mexico’s criminal landscape.

The Trump Administration has labeled the Sinaloa Cartel as a foreign terrorist organization and accused it of being one of the leading producers and smugglers of fentanyl. Several members of the Sinaloa Cartel have pending indictments in the United States, not only for drug trafficking and money laundering charges, but specifically for fentanyl related cases.

In their most recent action, the U.S. Treasury listed Juan Jose “El Ruso” Ponce Felix as the leader and founder of the main armed wing of the Mayos. Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of State announced a $5 million reward for his capture.

Cutting off the money flow is not going to end either drug sales or human trafficking. However, making those businesses less profitable might slow their growth slightly. The only way to end drug dealing and human trafficking is to dry up the market. We need to work on that.

Efficiency Makes A Difference

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On Tuesday, American Greatness posted an article about a new automated payment verification system spearheaded by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

The article reports:

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has blocked its first improper payment requests using a new automated payment verification system spearheaded by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

DOGE announced Tuesday that Treasury identified and rejected $334 million in improper payment requests due to missing budget codes, invalid budget codes, and budget codes with no authorization.

Invalid budget codes include budgets that had already been fully spent. Unauthorized codes refer to payments not linked to the budget.

Prior to DOGE’s intervention, the Treasury’s accounting code was optional for the $4.7 Trillion in payments that go out each year, making traceability almost impossible.

The kind of bookkeeping in place before DOGE intervened would never be acceptable in a private company. The Internal Revenue Service would never tolerate that kind of sloppiness in a private enterprise.

The article concludes:

“This is a big deal,” DOGE Chief Elon Musk commented on X. 

Back in February, the Treasury Access Symbol (TAS) became a required field, increasing transparency into where U.S. tax dollars are going.

Treasury went live with its new payment verification system last week, resulting in the rejection of over $300 million in fraudulent accounting entries.

Taxpayers should rejoice in this change.

Where We Were Before The Courts Got Involved

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Author: Raynor James

A funny thing happened recently while I was cleaning our refrigerator.  I turned on “rumble” and listened to it like listening to the radio.  I got a guy I’d never heard before, and what he said got interesting.

He talked about Elon Musk and something he’s doing with his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) assignment.  Apparently, a team he has assembled took over an office building in Washington, D.C. that previously housed folks who handled the cash flow from the U.S. Treasury Department.  Elon’s team has reportedly changed the codes to the locks on the building and changed the access codes to the computers in the building.  Elon’s team had control of the check book.”

In a simple (but brilliant) maneuver, Elon got his team to agree to be on location 24/7.  That included swinging into action on the week-end, quickly blocking the previous team out, working 12 hour shifts, and living and sleeping on site.  It’s said that they are to be well compensated for putting their normal lives “on hold” until they have uncovered what is being spent for what, and whether they are appropriate uses of our precious, hard earned taxpayer dollars.

That makes sense, doesn’t it?  It makes common sense that people who make a deep commitment to accomplish their mission can achieve a huge amount more than a workforce who works 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, and many of whom seldom, if ever, report into the office.

What has Elon’s team found out?  (You are up to date on your blood pressure medicine, aren’t you?)   For starters, the previous keepers of our national check book were under instruction to NOT DENY ANY CLAIM.  Really?  Yup!  NOT EVEN IF THEY KNEW IT WAS A FRAULENT CLAIM, and NOT IF THEY KNEW THE PEOPLE MAKING THE CLAIM WERE ACTIVE TERRORISTS.  What’s more, they followed their instructions!

It’s reported that Elon Musk is amazed at the amount of money flowing out of our collective piggy bank has continued to be money that the disbursers knew to be in those aforementioned categories, and they continued to do it anyway — until Elon and his team shut them down.  Go Elon!  Go team!

On his “War Room” programs, Steve Bannon has made many references to Elon Musk’s having managed to “cut off the check book.”  However, he is still distressed about members of the House of Representatives’ who talk a conservative line but who are squishy about cutting expenses THIS YEAR.

Something To Watch

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On September 23rd, The Geller Report reported the following headline:

World’s second-largest economy offloaded US$13.6 billion worth of US debt in July

But China still remains the second-largest foreign holder of US Treasury bills, having been surpassed by Japan in mid-2019

The article reports:

Amid persistent concerns over the safety of its overseas assets – most of which are US dollar-denominated – China has slashed its holdings of United States Treasury bills for the fourth straight month.

The world’s second-largest economy offloaded US$13.6 billion worth of US debt in July, bringing China’s holdings to US$821.8 billion, according to the latest data from the US Department of the Treasury.
China’s overall holding of US debt remains at a 14-year low, after reaching that level in June.

Beijing has been continuously cutting China’s US debt holdings since early 2022, with two exceptions – in March of this year and July 2022, when it increased holdings by US$20.3 billion and US$320 million, respectively.

Beijing remains the second-largest foreign holder of US Treasury bills after being surpassed by Japan in June 2019.

Keep in mind that we are seeing a global move away from the U.S. Dollar as a global currency. That has a lot to do with the reckless spending by our government. As oil is traded in currency other than PetroDollars, we can also expect a move toward digital currency. There is nothing wrong with digital currency as long as it is not Central Bank Digital Currency, which gives the government control over how much money you earn and how you spend that money. If you are going to invest in digital currency, treat it like buying a stock–do your research first! Meanwhile, keep an eye on China as it unloads American debt.