September 15,2010

Grassley: Void at Justice Department Tax Division Raises Questions About Priority of Tax Fraud Enforcement

M E M O R A N D U M

To:    Reporters and Editors
Fr:     Jill Gerber for Sen. Grassley, 202/224-6522
Re:    vacancy at head of Justice Department’s Tax Division
Da:    Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Sen. Chuck Grassley, ranking member of the Finance Committee and a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, today made the following comment on the vacancy at the head of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

 “There hasn’t been a top tax cop on the beat since the President took office.  It raises questions of how serious the Administration is about tax fraud.  The President needs to nominate someone who’s qualified to enforce our criminal tax laws and oversee complex tax cases, including tax shelter cases.  Being more effective against tax shelters would not only uphold the law, but also help to ease the budget deficit, maybe easing the pressure the majority party feels to raise taxes on small business owners to bring in more money.  It’s been more than two years since a whistleblower came forward with information on offshore tax shelters at UBS, and we still don’t know whether the IRS and DOJ are making good use of the information.”