A Tax Lawyer Leaves Washington
The White House removed Ken Kies from his senior tax posts after he resisted administration requests involving audits of specific taxpayers, offering a crisp demonstration of the Internal Revenue Service’s continued independence. Kies, who served as acting IRS chief counsel and the Treasury Department’s assistant secretary for tax policy, reportedly warned officials that such requests could violate federal law. He then encountered a familiar feature of independent government service: the freedom to reach a legal conclusion, followed by the freedom to seek other employment.
Administration officials attributed Kies’s departure to concerns about his temperament, work habits and computer skills rather than his objections to political involvement in tax enforcement. The explanation placed the dispute safely within the realm of office management, where consequential legal disagreements can be recast as performance reviews and constitutional questions may be resolved by updating a password. Kies previously worked as a tax lawyer for President Donald Trump and said he had recused himself from matters involving Trump’s taxes. Lawyers under Kies also resisted work related to a Justice Department settlement that would have provided broad protection from existing tax scrutiny for Trump, his relatives and his businesses.
Trump has repeatedly described audits as burdensome when they concern his finances. During a 2016 presidential debate, he said, “As far as my return, I want to file it, except for many years, I’ve been audited every year. Twelve years, or something like that.” U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams has criticized the government’s handling of the settlement process, while Trump nominated Jim Gadwood, an attorney whose firm represented him, to become the IRS’s top lawyer. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has maintained that the department administers tax law fairly, a position now supported by an organizational chart with one fewer dissenting lawyer. Federal law prohibits certain executive branch officials from asking the IRS to begin or end an audit of a particular taxpayer.
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