Did you know the Corporate Transparency Act could make small business owners CRIMINALS? Former investment banker and “You Will Own Nothing” author Carol Roth joins the Glenn Beck Program to explain how the federal government is completely out of control. She also says she'll join Glenn in a lawsuit to end this UNCONSTITUTIONAL act.
TranscriptBelow is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: Again, another horse on the highway. The Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is looking to collect your information on the beneficial ownership information, that you have to report.
And I -- I am just -- I am there at FinCEN.gov/BOIfacts. And I have no idea. No idea.
And I'm -- I'm the one, I'm one of them that has to do it. Stu, your wife has an LLC, right? You have an LLC?
STU: I believe. I don't remember if it's structured that way. But, yeah. I believe it is.
GLENN: So anyone with an LLC. Even if you're not using it. You have to file, right?
CAROL: Yes. It is every reporting entity. So if you're a single member LLC. S-Corp.
C Corp. Whatever kind of instructor you have.
If you're not exempted, which means you don't have 20 employees, or $5 million in revenue, or fall into one of their other categories that they exempted. You know, somebody like a hedge fund, of course, is not included.
Because why would they be, right?
GLENN: Yeah. There's no money laundering.
CAROL: Right. So if you have a reporting entity. That's why I said, it sounds like there are other reporting entities, like housing associations that may get caught up, because they file something with their state.
So if you're a reporting entity, you have to file. And I don't know if you notice, on that FinCEN.gov/BOI homepage, that the first alert they had is a fraud alert. Because, of course, people are taking advantage of this. And trying to --
GLENN: Because nobody knows anything about it.
CAROL: So recommend tell you about the media. First of all, thank you for being a platform of truth, and one that supports small businesses. Because we've been talking about this. But none of the mainstream media has done anything to alert people to this.
However, Glenn, When the state of Alabama Supreme Court said that we're going to rule this unconstitutional, what did they say?
This is a blow to corporate transparency, this is going to make it harder to fight the cartels.
You tell me, what cartel, and what money launder, is self-reporting to FinCEN?
Okay.
GLENN: Well, let me also say this.
We have been talking about a giant crime family, that is money laundering for a long time.
But because it was ten for the big guy, or five for the big guy, he doesn't have to report this!
Because he's already over $5 million.
So if you -- I mean, if you're small time. Small time money launderer.
Then you have to do it. But if you're an honest money launderer, you don't have to file. If your money laundering is forever 5 million. Unbelievable.
CAROL: Well, that's the thing is that is really frustrating. They have tools that alert them to suspicious activity. There are suspicious activity reports from the banks, which the Biden family had well over 100 of them. I think on a combined basis.
And they did nothing to look into potential money laundering.
So if there is suspicious activity, or there is something that looks, you know, awry. They have ways to go through the courts, to go after that, you know, particular entity.
The ones who are massive criminals, aren't going to be reporting to FinCEN. So all this is, is a mass surveillance program against small businesses.
And the penalties, as you said, are insane.
It's not just for not reporting. It's if you don't update. So a woman gets married and changes her name.
You move. You get a new driver's license. Because the other one was out of date.
You don't let FinCEN know, they can send you to jail!
Why this was ever passed. And, oh, by the way, Trump did veto this. And it went back to Congress.
And they overwrote it. And nobody has done anything to fix this, is absolutely insane!
There are 33 million small businesses, in this country, why are they being put under a microscope, and saying, you are criminal.
You are financial criminals. And we are going to hold your feet to the fire, if you don't let us track you. It is insane.
GLENN: I have to tell you, I am just looking at this website.
It scrolls. And it just keeps scrolling and scrolling and scrolling. On what you have to do.
I mean, this is -- this is as bad as the IRS, if not worse.
Because none of us have ever done any of this before.
CAROL: Yes.
GLENN: You don't even know. Is there an organization out there, that can help file this?
I mean, the bureaucracy is crazy!
CAROL: So that's part of the challenge.
Is that there are accountants and lawyers, who are trying to get on top of it.
Because everything is so vague and confusing.
Even they're not entirely sure what to do.
So again, my recommendation, if you have an existing reporting entity.
You have until January 1st of next year.
I personally, with my LLC. I am not doing this. Until the very last minute.
Because we're working very hard. We're talking with lawmakers.
We're trying to get it overturned. At least delayed so we have a little breathing room to try to do something.
The problem is, if you start a new business, Glenn. You only have 30 days. And I have heard some rumblings. Whatever it is that they're collecting this information. That they don't have a formal database, built yet.
Go figure.
Right.
And so that information is incredibly vulnerable.
And that impacts the ability to start businesses in this country.
If you're starting one. And you have an entity. If you don't a reporting entity, you don't have to file --
GLENN: What does that mean? A reporting entity? That's an LLC?
CAROL: So something that you have to file information with your state to let them know that you're a business. There are certain people who act as sole proprietors, who don't have a business around them, or an entity around them. Like you said, an LLC, an S-Corp.
A C-Corp, and the like.
But if you have that reporting entity, that's where you're getting caught up in this.
And it is just -- it is just absolutely egregious, nefarious, and an affront to small business.
GLENN: I have a friend who has just this week, started a new business. Guarantee you, he knows nothing about this. And because he's starting a new business, he has 30 days.
CAROL: Thirty days, or he can be fined. He can be thrown in jail.
GLENN: Is it 500 or $800 a day, for every day after 30 days?
CAROL: Yeah. It's some incredible amount per day.
GLENN: And up to ten years, in prison.
CAROL: Civil and criminal penalties. For not -- for not reporting, or not -- again, not updating your information.
Not like you do this once, and you're done.
You have to remember this, any time you do anything that changes any of the information, that would be collected, in the system.
GLENN: You know, Stalin said, show me the man, I'll show you the crime. Or his Stasi chief said that.
CAROL: Yep. Yep.
GLENN: That's what this is.
I mean, everybody is -- with all of the new guide lines and regulations and everything else.
There's no way, you can keep up with all of these things.
And I think they're intentionally designed to be able to say, sorry, dude.
You're a criminal.
You did this. Buh-bye.
Because you know people who are connected, are never going to have a problem, from the Treasury financial crimes enforcement network.
CAROL: Yeah. And if you were really concerned about massive corporate transparency. Or massive scale laundering cartels. Then you would be exempting the small businesses.
And you would be focusing on the large companies that have the financial resources and the capabilities to do reporting.
Like the publicly traded companies do.
But it's exactly the opposite.
So what other conclusion could we possibly draw, that you want to surveil what small businesses are doing. And could go everything you can, to hold them down.
And, basically, continue to transfer wealth from Main Street to Wall Street.
GLENN: So when is -- when is -- can the group that now has filed and they said it was unconstitutional.
They can't file. Because they don't have standing, to kick it up to the Supreme Court, right?
CAROL: So I'm not a lawyer. I don't play one on TV.
I don't know what the procedure is. You have to ask the lawyer on that.
There are certainly a number of people, who are looking into additional lawsuits. There are some lawmakers. Who are looking into trying to get this overturned or at least delayed.
To give again, some time to rethink it.
And see what can be done. In terms of the court, I couldn't believe.
It's unconstitutional. But it's only unconstitutional for this person who filed the lawsuit. I have never seen anything like that.
GLENN: Have you ever seen anything like that before?
STU: No.
GLENN: No. No.
I mean, I will -- I will file, for a federal lawsuit.
I mean, anybody --
CAROL: I'll join you.
GLENN: You will join me?
CAROL: Yeah.
GLENN: I have no expertise in this. I have no idea. But let's do it.
I -- this government is completely out of control. If they can do this, and then they also have said, you know. There's no gig workers anymore. Carol, what is that going to do to the grocery shelves, when you can't get private drivers to drive trucks!
CAROL: I mean, this is insane.
And it goes against the complete shift in the economy.
One of the great things about technology. Is it gave people flexibility, Glenn.
Flexibility to work the way you want to work.
And that's the wonderful thing about America. Not everybody around the world, gets to choose what they do for a living. And how to work.
And more and more people want work/life balance. They don't want to be an employee. They want to make their hours.
And, in fact, when they go out and survey, from the government surveys on down. And they survey independent contractors.
The majority of people, don't want to be employees. They love being independent contractors. And they make at least as much, if not more, than if they were an employee. So the fact that we have the Department of Labor, who went around Congress, and say, we will change the way independent contractors are classified. We don't want to have these standalone people. We want them to be employees.
We want them to be in unions. It's all about big business. It's all about making the unions happy. And it's against capitalism. And your own choice. Your work. Your choice. The people who are so obsessed with choice in everything. Why would you not have a choice in how you present your labor? You and I agree on something. What does the government have to do, getting in the middle going, I'm sorry. I don't like the way you decided on how you want to work.
GLENN: And let me ask you this, too. Biden is working so hard to get labor unions to grow. And these kinds of things make you say, I don't want to be an owner of anything. I just want to be a worker. I don't want to stick my head out for any risk at all.
That's what this does. Then, as they squeeze and squeeze, and you don't really have any rights, people want to join unions. But the unions are in bed with the people that are squeezing you!
CAROL: It's the great consolidation. It's taking away that freedom, that choice, that capitalism, that underpins America. What it is that made us successful. That productivity that we talk about, that will allow us to continue to grow and at least have a chance to save this country's fiscal foundation. They want to do everything they can, to put up barriers. They want to put up barriers to work. To earning a living.
Like, if you said this to somebody, ten years ago, 15 years ago, they would look at you, like we're in a bizarro world.
GLENN: People did, when we talked about it, two years ago. That it was coming.
They looked at us, like that will never happen.
Well, here it is. Here it is.