Bloomberg, Trump Picks Ken Kies for Key Tax Policy Job at Treasury Ahead of Cuts Push:
President-elect Donald Trump has announced members of his senior leadership team at the Treasury Department, who’ll work alongside Scott Bessent, his pick for secretary.
Ken Kies will be assistant secretary for tax policy, placing him as a point person at the Treasury working on tax cuts Trump has touted as a signature policy issue for 2025. Kies is a longtime Republican tax lobbyist, whose client list has included Microsoft Corp., insurers and financial services groups. [He is Managing Director of The Federal Policy Group.]
Samantha Schwab, granddaughter of billionaire Charles Schwab, will be deputy chief of staff and work under Daniel Katz of the Manhattan Institute, who will be chief of staff. Katz was a senior adviser at the Treasury during Trump’s first term, the president-elect said in a post on his Truth Social platform Thursday night. Schwab worked for the first Trump administration in the office of legislative affairs. Charles Schwab contributed $1 million to Trump’s 2017 inaugural fundraising committee.
Cora Alvi, who was a national deputy finance director for Trump’s presidential campaign, will also be a deputy chief of staff.
Politico, Trump’s Inside-the-Box Pick to Run Tax at Treasury:
President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for his point man on tax at the Treasury Department is an experienced insider whose nomination signals business will have a strong ally in the administration as it pushes through major tax legislation.
Ken Kies, a leading tax lobbyist who has advocated for big corporations such as Microsoft and Hess, is widely seen as extremely knowledgeable about both the tax code and the ways of Washington, though he has also developed a reputation among some for sharp elbows and a prickly, suffer-no-fools personality. …
The Kies pick is a clear sign the Treasury will be much friendlier to businesses than during the Biden years, when the department was led by a number of academics who pushed for higher taxes on businesses and high earners [Lily Batchelder (NYU), Assistant Secretary For Tax Policy; Kim Clausing (UCLA), Deputy Assistant Secretary For Tax Analysis, Office Of Tax Policy); Itai Grinberg (Georgetown), Deputy Assistant Secretary For Multilateral Tax Office Of Tax Policy; Rebecca Kysar (Fordham), Counselor To The Assistant Secretary, Office Of Tax Policy. See Reactions To Tax Prof Appointments To Biden’s Treasury Department].
- The Hill, Trump Announces New Treasury and Ambassador Nominees
- Law360, Trump Taps Former Hill Staffer For Assistant Tax Policy Role
Editor’s Note: If you would like to receive a daily email with links to tax posts on TaxProf Blog, email me here.
