Warren, Blumenthal, Van Hollen, Whitehouse Slam Top Trump Tax Official for Helping Tax Dodgers, Seek Commitments to Address Conflicts of Interest
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, led Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) in a letter to Kenneth Kies, Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy at the Treasury Department and Acting IRS Chief Counsel, regarding concerns over his past work lobbying to help secure massive tax cuts for large corporations. The senators requested several ethics commitments from Kies to address his conflicts of interest.
In his role at Treasury, Kies will lead the writing of regulations to implement the tax cuts in Republicans’ “Big, Beautiful Bill.” After the passage of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the Trump Treasury Department delivered massive tax handouts to large companies in the form of guidance documents and regulations after an intense corporate lobbying campaign.
“[Your] record indicates that you will favor tax-dodging corporations and wealthy individuals as you undertake the regulatory process…And you appear to have no reservations about serving the biggest corporations—even if it comes at the expense of middle-class families,” wrote the senators.
Recent reporting revealed that Kies has spent nearly his entire career lobbying on behalf of wealthy tax dodgers, including helping companies avoid crackdowns on international tax avoidance under the Clinton and Obama administrations. Additionally, Kies has lobbied for the 199A exemption that benefits wealthy passthrough entities, was instrumental in writing rules that help large corporations’ offshore subsidiaries disappear for tax purposes, and helped the Trump Organization avoid consequences for tax fraud.
During his confirmation process, Kies refused to recuse himself from matters related to his former clients or commit not to work as a lobbyist after leaving government service.
“You are now the top official in the federal government leading the implementation of our nation’s tax laws. Americans deserve to know that the federal government works for them, not for wealthy corporations and interests,” said the senators.
The senators asked Kies to respond, by September 30, 2025, with an explanation of his process for implementing the tax cuts in OBBA; whether he’s had contact with his former clients since taking office at the Treasury Department or since his nomination; whether he will recuse himself from drafting regulations that will affect issues that affect his former clients or on which he’s previously engaged, and whether he’ll commit to not seeking employment from any company under his regulatory authority during his time in government, or employment as a lobbyist of any kind, for four years.
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