Free Republic

A top Democratic senator said Wednesday he fears the IRS may be too biased to handle the audit of President Trump’s taxes, saying the fact that the agency is led by an acting commissioner who is also a top Trump political appointee at the main Treasury Department is worrisome. Sen. Ron Wyden, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said an agency already roiled by problems of political taint stemming from the tea party targeting needs to be extra careful to avoid conflicts now. “Yet, we now face a situation where the acting IRS commissioner is concurrently one of...

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...