Tell President Biden: Replace the Burrower in Charge of the IRS
Contact the White House via their comment line or web form.
Hate the phone? Resistbot is your friend. Resisbot now allows you to send text directly to the White House the same as with Members of Congress. If you use Resistbot or write an email to your elected officials, make sure to use your own words. Copy-pasted emails are discounted by Congressional staff. In-depth, personal stories are most effective.
Call Script
My name is __________. I am a constituent, and my zip code is _______. I am a member of Indivisible SF.
Your plan to address income inequality and finance bold action on the climate emergency by making sure corporations and the ultra-wealthy pay their fair share of taxes is very popular with the American people. You can demonstrate your conviction to do that and inspire the American people by replacing IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig immediately.
IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig made his name helping the wealthy fight IRS enforcement actions. As Commissioner, faced with budget constraints, he cut audits of the wealthy and large corporations while continuing to pursue EITC claimants.
His FY 2020 budget request included major cuts to taxpayer services, which are crucial, particularly for low-income taxpayers trying to navigate the complicated tax rules.
Rettig is a long-time Trump associate who supported his refusal to share his tax returns with the American people during the 2016 campaign and while he was president.
Background
Before leaving office, Trump embedded dozens of his political appointees in career government positions and influential boards. Converting political appointees to civil servants is a fairly common practice. Obama did more civil service conversions throughout his eight years in office, but Trump did the final year “burrowing” at a higher rate than Obama, and around 35 of his 58 would-be burrowers are still in office.
When a president leaves office, about 4,000 political appointees go with him, to make room for the new team to take the reins. A small number of political appointees, who serve in positions with set terms, like commissioners of the Securities and Exchange Commission, cannot be removed, except for cause. We argued earlier that there is ample cause to remove Louis De Joy, another corrupt Trump appointee, from the USPS Board.
President Biden has a bold agenda that a majority of Americans support, which includes decisive action on the climate emergency, financed in large part by revamping our system of taxation so that the wealthy and corporations pay their fair share. We will work hard to elect more Democrats to Congress to enact his agenda, but in the executive branch, where Manchin and Sinema pose no obstacle, Biden could inspire the American people by sweeping out the prominent Trump-era burrower from the IRS.
IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, appointed by Trump after his thirty years as a tax attorney helping the wealthy evade enforcement actions, has demonstrated his Republican priorities over and over while in office. For decades, the IRS has disproportionately audited claimants of the EITC. And Rettig made things worse. Faced with a decreasing budget, Rettig cut audits of the wealthy and large corporations substantially while continuing to pursue EITC claimants. In the IRS budget for FY 2020, he made major cuts to taxpayer services, which are crucial, particularly for low-income taxpayers trying to navigate the complicated tax rules
Rettig failed to disclose his financial ties to a Trump-branded hotel prior to his confirmation hearing. He is a long-time Trump defender. As a private citizen, Rettig spoke out in defense of Trump’s refusal to release his tax returns during the 2016 campaign as someone under audit. Even after he took office and Democrats in Congress pressured Trump to reveal his tax returns, Rettig remained outspoken in support of Trump’s refusal.
Tax fairness is an inspiring, long-overdue Democratic goal. Washington norms would allow Rettig to keep his position through the end of his term this November. However, If Biden is committed to seeing his tax proposals through and creating a fair and just tax system for the many, he could exercise his clear legal authority to fire Rettig and install a new Commissioner of the IRS. Decisive action from President Biden on this front would signal all of us that real change is coming.
References
Trump Holdovers Are Dragging Down the Biden Agenda | The New Republic, 4/29/21
100 Days In and Biden Still has Trump Holdovers Left to Fire, The Revolving Door Project, 4/21/21
Trump railed against the 'deep state,' but he also built his own. Biden is trying to dismantle it., NBC News, 2/28/21
High number of Trump political appointees sought permanent jobs in final year, NBC News, 4/10/21
Biden Must Fire IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig - Public Seminar, 4/8/21
Millionaires and Corporate Giants Escape IRS Audits Again in FY 2020, 3/18/21 from TRAC, a nonpartisan, nonprofit data research center affiliated with the Newhouse School of Public Communications and the Whitman School of Management, both at Syracuse University.