Following up on Wednesday's post, DOGE To Shutter DOJ Tax Division: Donald Tobin (Maryland; Google Scholar), DOGE and Conservatives Can’t Really Want to Shutter DOJ Tax:
As a former attorney in the Appellate Section of the Tax Division at DOJ, I am concerned about proposals being floated at DOJ to reassign Tax Division attorneys to U.S. Attorney’s offices. This move is contrary to the Administration’s efficiency and cost savings goals as well as its aim to ensure tax enforcement is not abused.
Some readers may not understand how cases end up in the Tax Division. Importantly, except in very limited cases (typically involving liens, levies, and bankruptcy (and a few other categories)), the Civil Trial and Appellate Sections of the Tax Division do not initiate any actions. In order for a civil case to be litigated by the Tax Division, either the case must have been litigated in Tax Court (or a federal trial court) and appealed to a Circuit Court, or the taxpayer has filed a suit in federal court against the United States seeking a tax refund. DOJ’s Tax Division generally acts as the lawyer for the government when taxpayers seek to litigate their right to a refund. This role will continue to be necessary and may overwhelm local U.S. Attorney offices, which typically have other priorities.
The beauty of DOJ’s Tax Division — for those of us who find beauty in tax — is that the central nature and expertise of DOJ tax lawyers help ensure that there is consistency in tax enforcement. While it is impossible for all the cases to be reviewed by one individual, a central structure helps ensure that taxpayers are handled fairly and evenhandedly.
Moving this structure to local U.S. Attorneys will eliminate the expertise that is currently at DOJ and will provide for unequal enforcement of the tax laws. Unlike other areas, the civil trial sections of the Tax Division do not actively bring cases against taxpayers (with exceptions noted above), and the same can be said for the Tax Division’s Appellate Section. These types of cases should be handled competently and fairly, and these goals are met by central expertise and oversight.
DOJ’s Tax Division also has criminal sections, and the attorneys employed there work closely (and collaboratively) with local U.S. Attorneys. Once again, however, these tax prosecutions are often extremely complicated, and it doesn’t make sense for each U.S. Attorney’s office to have to develop this special, tax-related expertise. The current model, where the Tax Division and U.S. Attorneys work together in handling tax prosecutions, creates a more equitable model and ensures that taxpayers will not be treated differently in different jurisdictions.
Central to a sound economic system is a sound and fair tax system. Regardless whether you believe taxes are too high or too low, all should be able to agree that the system is complicated, subject matter expertise is important, and that ensuring a fair and just system is essential for the proper collection of revenue. The DOJ Tax Division has stood for those principles for over eight decades, and the Tax Division is essential to achieve the efficiency and budget goals that DOGE and the Administration seek.
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