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Microsoft sends their own lawyers and lobbyists, influences lawmakers to pass laws barring the IRS from using outside law firms, and that slash the IRS' funding

Microsoft sends their own lawyers and lobbyists, influences lawmakers to pass laws barring the IRS from using outside law firms, and that slash the IRS' funding, and this has been happening for years. Hence, you get results like this one: For corporations with assets over $20 billion, the audit rate has declined from about 100% in 2010 to under 50% in 2018. We can thank our representatives in Congress for siding with corporations over the IRS.

refurb 3y ago
Can you provide a source showing that “Microsoft lobbied to cut the IRS budget”. This is FUD
- trealira 3y ago
  My bad; it was CEETA that lobbied for it, the Coalition for Effective and Efficient Tax Administration, of which Microsoft is a member. You can read it in the article posted. ----------------- It was a setback for Microsoft. But as the court case ground on, the company and its allies went to work on Capitol Hill to make sure something like this never happened again. In the autumn of 2015, a new trade group emerged. It was called the Coalition for Effective and Efficient Tax Administration, or CEETA. Among the members were Microsoft, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a host of other business and tech groups. The new coalition hired lobbyists at PwC, another Big Four firm and one with a stable of well-connected former government officials and congressional staff. The new group’s clout soon became clear. In October 2015, just a few days after CEETA members fired off a letter to the IRS decrying the use of outside counsel on audits, Pam Olson, one of CEETA’s PwC lobbyists, sat down for a two-hour meeting with Doug O’Donnell, the head of the IRS division that audits large corporations. “When it comes to the tax law, I don’t like the word ‘enforcement,’” Olson, who oversaw tax policy as a Treasury Department official in the early 2000s, said in a speech to corporate tax executives that December. “Let’s remember that the agency is the Internal Revenue Service,” she said. Olson forwarded a copy of her speech to O’Donnell, who responded, according to emails obtained by ProPublica, “Thanks for sharing — I appreciate your perspective.” He said he would pass it on to other senior IRS officials. CEETA’s lobbyists stalked the halls of Congress, urging reforms in response to the IRS’ newfound aggression. They found a ready audience. In late 2015, a senior aide to Hatch participated in an online seminar for tax professionals along with a senior Microsoft executive. According to a description, participants discussed “the actions of an increasingly aggressive IRS” and the need for reform. (The aide, Christopher Armstrong, has since left Congress and now works as a lobbyist. He did not respond to requests for comment.) “Focusing on litigation destroys cooperative relationships between taxpayers and the IRS,” read a document distributed by CEETA’s lobbyists to lawmakers around that time and obtained by ProPublica. The proposals targeted the three bold steps Hoory had taken in the Microsoft audit: CEETA wanted lawmakers to curtail the IRS’ ability to block taxpayers’ access to the Office of Appeals, rein in the use of designated summons and prohibit outside lawyers from questioning witnesses.
  - refurb 3y ago
    So the answer is "no, Microsoft didn't lobby to cut the IRS budget". Instead they said they don't like the word "enforcement" (with no other context provided for that quote). So let's google it. CEETA said "In some instances CEETA members have observed that IRS exam teams seem more occupied with “preparing for litigation rather than ascertaining the correctness of a return and resolving issues.” That doesn't seem that nefarious to me? Determining the correctness of a return first?
- voidwtf 3y ago
  Where are your sources? “This is FUD” without doing any basic research or consideration or PAC/lobbying efforts is just as poor a response.
  - refurb 3y ago
    It's FUD because Microsoft never lobbied to cut the IRS budget.
    - hulitu 3y ago
      In the good old American tradition it is never the company which makes the lobby but a non profit or an NGO generously sponsored by the company directly or indirectly (former or future employees).

refurb 3y ago

Can you provide a source showing that “Microsoft lobbied to cut the IRS budget”. This is FUD

trealira 3y ago
My bad; it was CEETA that lobbied for it, the Coalition for Effective and Efficient Tax Administration, of which Microsoft is a member. You can read it in the article posted. ----------------- It was a setback for Microsoft. But as the court case ground on, the company and its allies went to work on Capitol Hill to make sure something like this never happened again. In the autumn of 2015, a new trade group emerged. It was called the Coalition for Effective and Efficient Tax Administration, or CEETA. Among the members were Microsoft, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a host of other business and tech groups. The new coalition hired lobbyists at PwC, another Big Four firm and one with a stable of well-connected former government officials and congressional staff. The new group’s clout soon became clear. In October 2015, just a few days after CEETA members fired off a letter to the IRS decrying the use of outside counsel on audits, Pam Olson, one of CEETA’s PwC lobbyists, sat down for a two-hour meeting with Doug O’Donnell, the head of the IRS division that audits large corporations. “When it comes to the tax law, I don’t like the word ‘enforcement,’” Olson, who oversaw tax policy as a Treasury Department official in the early 2000s, said in a speech to corporate tax executives that December. “Let’s remember that the agency is the Internal Revenue Service,” she said. Olson forwarded a copy of her speech to O’Donnell, who responded, according to emails obtained by ProPublica, “Thanks for sharing — I appreciate your perspective.” He said he would pass it on to other senior IRS officials. CEETA’s lobbyists stalked the halls of Congress, urging reforms in response to the IRS’ newfound aggression. They found a ready audience. In late 2015, a senior aide to Hatch participated in an online seminar for tax professionals along with a senior Microsoft executive. According to a description, participants discussed “the actions of an increasingly aggressive IRS” and the need for reform. (The aide, Christopher Armstrong, has since left Congress and now works as a lobbyist. He did not respond to requests for comment.) “Focusing on litigation destroys cooperative relationships between taxpayers and the IRS,” read a document distributed by CEETA’s lobbyists to lawmakers around that time and obtained by ProPublica. The proposals targeted the three bold steps Hoory had taken in the Microsoft audit: CEETA wanted lawmakers to curtail the IRS’ ability to block taxpayers’ access to the Office of Appeals, rein in the use of designated summons and prohibit outside lawyers from questioning witnesses.
- refurb 3y ago
  So the answer is "no, Microsoft didn't lobby to cut the IRS budget". Instead they said they don't like the word "enforcement" (with no other context provided for that quote). So let's google it. CEETA said "In some instances CEETA members have observed that IRS exam teams seem more occupied with “preparing for litigation rather than ascertaining the correctness of a return and resolving issues.” That doesn't seem that nefarious to me? Determining the correctness of a return first?
voidwtf 3y ago
Where are your sources? “This is FUD” without doing any basic research or consideration or PAC/lobbying efforts is just as poor a response.
- refurb 3y ago
  It's FUD because Microsoft never lobbied to cut the IRS budget.
  - hulitu 3y ago
    In the good old American tradition it is never the company which makes the lobby but a non profit or an NGO generously sponsored by the company directly or indirectly (former or future employees).