White House Frees IRS From Tax Law
The White House celebrated a major victory for taxpayer freedom Friday by removing Ken Kies, the IRS acting chief counsel and Treasury assistant secretary for tax policy, after he repeatedly treated federal law as binding guidance rather than a menu of presidential options. Kies reportedly resisted requests involving specific tax audits, citing a statute that bars presidents and senior officials from ordering the IRS to begin or terminate investigations of particular taxpayers. His expected August departure will help end the agency’s longstanding practice of consulting written rules before determining what Donald Trump wants.
“Ken made the classic mistake of believing tax law applies before I decide who it applies to, and frankly that is a very weak way to run a country,” Trump said. “We need strong lawyers who understand that an independent IRS must be completely independent to carry out exactly what the president independently tells it to do.” Administration officials said Kies was not forced out for respecting legal safeguards, but for displaying the poor judgment required to mention them during meetings. Aides also questioned his commitment to tax simplification after he declined to interpret the phrase “shall not” as “shall, depending on ratings.”
Kies’s team had also resisted work connected to a Justice Department settlement that would protect Trump, his family and his businesses from existing audits. A federal judge criticized the underlying lawsuit as an improper attempt to manufacture legal approval for presidential self-dealing, overlooking the administration’s broader campaign to bring legitimacy manufacturing back to American soil. White House officials said the settlement would establish the important principle that no taxpayer should face politically motivated scrutiny unless that taxpayer has criticized the president, prosecuted the president, defeated the president or appeared insufficiently grateful to the president.
The administration described the personnel change as tax reform without the inconvenience of legislation. Under the streamlined system, ordinary Americans can determine their federal obligations by answering three questions: Are you loyal, are you useful, and has the president recently seen you on television? Corporations may claim an additional deduction by hosting a fundraiser, while political opponents can expect the enhanced customer service traditionally reserved for people whose returns are being examined repeatedly. With Kies removed, the IRS is now fully independent of Congress, the courts and the law, leaving it accountable only to the president who controls it.
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