Free Republic

Rettig will take over from Trump Treasury official David Kautter, who has been running the IRS on an interim basis since the departure last fall of John Koskinen, an Obama appointee who was despised by Republicans. In confirmation hearings, Rettig said that his overriding goal would be to restore confidence in the IRS, which has for years been the objection of conservative suspicion and faced significant budget cuts. Rettig will be tasked with implementing the new tax law passed by Republicans and signed into law by Trump in December. The IRS was afforded a modest increase in funding this spring...

President Donald Trump on Thursday tapped David Kautter, a senior tax official at the Treasury Department, to become acting IRS commissioner, starting Nov. 13.Kautter will temporarily take over the top job at a critical time for the agency, as Republicans work on a major tax code overhaul and an IRS audit of the president’s own taxes continues. He will succeed Commissioner John Koskinen, the embattled IRS chief whose term ends Nov. 12. If a landmark GOP tax bill passes before the end of the year, as top Republicans intend, Kautter would have the monumental task of implementing the first major...

President Trump made it official on Thursday that embattled IRS Commissioner John Koskinen will be out of a job next month. Trump tapped David Kautter, the Treasury Department’s assistant secretary for tax policy, to serve as interim IRS commissioner, beginning Nov. 13. Koskinen’s term ends on Nov. 12. He was eligible for reappointment, but Koskinen is fiercely opposed by congressional Republicans. Members of the House Freedom Caucus attempted but failed to impeach Koskinen last year, largely over his handling of the scandal involving former IRS official Lois Lerner. Prior to Koskinen’s tenure, Lerner was accused targeting conservative groups who applied...