In 1729, the Anglo-Irish clergyman Jonathan Swift devised what he called a "modest proposal" to for preventing the children of poor people from becoming a burden to their parents and country. In a nutshell, he proposed that indigent children "be offered in sale to the persons of quality and fortune, through the kingdom, always advising the mother to let them suck plentifully in the last month, so as to render them plump, and fat for a good table". Swift's shocking proposal was anything but modest and was, of course, intended as satire.*
I could not help but think of Swift's modest proposal when I read the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal's unpublished decision staying Judge Amos L. Mazzant's decision to preliminarily enjoin the Corporate Transparency Act and its implementing regulations. Texas Top Cop Shop, Inc. v. Garland, 2024 WL 4953814 (Dec. 03, 2024). In brief unpublished order, the Court of Appeals found that the government is likely to succeed on the merits in defending the CTA's constitutionality. Texas Top Cop Shop, Inc. v. Garland, 2024 WL 5203138 (5th Cir. Dec. 23, 2024). What I found shocking is the Court of Appeal's characterization of the CTA as "imposing modest disclosure requirements".
In adopting regulations implementing the CTA, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network estimated that 32.6 million business entities would be subject to the CTA's reporting requirements. (87 FR 59498). FinCEN estimated that these 32.6 million business entities would incur costs totaling 21.7 billion dollars. The CTA, moreover, requires disclosure of sensitive personal identifying information of many millions of beneficial owners. This personal information includes name, date of birth, current address, and unique identifying number such as a passport or driver's license number. The collection and centralization of this information creates an extremely attractive target for foreign governments and criminals. These facts alone belie any claim of modesty on the part of the CTA.
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*Jonathan Swift's epitaph in St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin reads: "Ubi sæva Indignatio ulterius cor lacerare nequit, Abi viator et imitare, si poteris, strenuum pro virili libertatis vindicatorem" (Where fierce indignation is no longer able to wound the heart, go traveler and imitate, if you able, this avenger of vigorous and manly freedom).
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