Almost every team I've worked on has explicitly forbid refactoring, as well as any check in not directly in service to an approved feature addition or bug fix.

Almost every team I've worked on has explicitly forbid refactoring, as well as any check in not directly in service to an approved feature addition or bug fix. And the bug fixes generally need to be minimal. A long time ago, I believed I might get somewhere by promoting refactoring. That got me nowhere. Then, I believed it would be best to quit and find a team that liked refactoring. But I didn't find any teams like that. Now, I mostly work alone, so I don't have to give a hoot what the rest of you are doing or fretting about anymore :)