Cato event featuring David R. Burton, Richard Hay, Karen Kerrigan, & Diego Zuluaga:
Policymakers on both sides of the aisle have proposed new regimes for small-business beneficial ownership reporting. The aim of such legislation is to eliminate opportunities for money laundering and financial crime. However, the proposals before Congress would place heavy new compliance costs on millions of America’s small businesses while continuing to provide opportunities for bad actors to engage in illicit financial activities. Beneficial ownership reporting would add to an already onerous anti-money-laundering/know-your-customer (AML/ KYC) regulatory burden, cited by community banks as the single most costly financial regulation. Furthermore, international experience with beneficial ownership reporting requirements suggests that it will be difficult to make such requirements work in the United States.
Earlier on money laundering and know your customer (KYC) regulations.
One Comment
Today, we just saw the harm of a disclosure regime. It is axiomatic that donating to a political campaign is protected by the First Amendment–and people have the right to donate anonymously if they would be subjected to serious problems as a result of such donations (see NAACP v. Claiborne). Today, Joaquin Castro decided to doxx Trump donors.
The federal courts should, tomorrow morning, declare the entire disclosure regime unconstitutional as applied to individuals.