On September 12, the U.S. Senate confirmed Charles Rettig, a former criminal tax attorney with Hochman, Salkin, Rettig, Toscher & Perez, as the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) new commissioner.
Charles Rettig
Rettig will be responsible for overseeing the massive tax-law overhaul passed by Republicans in 2017 with a budget that has been reduced by nearly a billion dollars since 2010, and a staff reduced by 16 percent in five years; the agency’s IT systems are also in need of replacement, resulting in a highly visible Tax Day systems failure this year.
The IRS currently spends nearly $2 billion maintaining its legacy systems, including the 60s-era Individual Master File that performs the calculations required to process tax returns.
Rettig will take a large pay cut to run the agency: a maximum of $210,700 under the executive schedule versus the $1.13 million salary he earned with Hochman, Salkin et al.; he is expected to continue receiving income from his rental properties in Waikiki Trump International Hotel and Tower.
