IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said Wednesday that the agency fully supports tax reform efforts, acknowledging the existing U.S. tax code is such a “mess” that even he struggles to fill out his federal returns.
“Nobody’s more supportive of tax simplification than the IRS. … The tax code is a mess. It is difficult for the IRS commissioner to fill out his tax returns,” Koskinen, who has a Yale law degree, told Fox News at a Washington, D.C., conference on improving government services.
Koskinen, who became commissioner in 2013 under then-President Barack Obama, made clear the agency doesn’t meddle in policy but said he started talking with the new administration about tax reform just weeks after then-candidate Donald Trump was elected and the IRS continues to offer help.
“One of the questions was, ‘If major tax reform simplification was on the table, would there be anybody in the IRS opposed to that?’ I was quick to respond, after having talked to employees, that nobody is more supportive of tax simplification than the IRS,” he said.
Koskinen said he started soliciting suggestions from employees last year about ways to simplify and streamline the code and called such reform “one of our highest priorities.”
“Nobody’s more supportive of tax simplification than the IRS. … The tax code is a mess. It is difficult for the IRS commissioner to fill out his tax returns,” Koskinen, who has a Yale law degree, told Fox News at a Washington, D.C., conference on improving government services.
Koskinen, who became commissioner in 2013 under then-President Barack Obama, made clear the agency doesn’t meddle in policy but said he started talking with the new administration about tax reform just weeks after then-candidate Donald Trump was elected and the IRS continues to offer help.
“One of the questions was, ‘If major tax reform simplification was on the table, would there be anybody in the IRS opposed to that?’ I was quick to respond, after having talked to employees, that nobody is more supportive of tax simplification than the IRS,” he said.
Koskinen said he started soliciting suggestions from employees last year about ways to simplify and streamline the code and called such reform “one of our highest priorities.”