IRS Commissioner John Koskinen in a letter to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D, OR) regarding the expired tax extenders:
To avoid . . . serious problems, I respectfully urge you and other Members of Congress to address this issue expeditiously…. it would be detrimental to the entire 2015 tax filing season and to millions of taxpayers if Congress fails to provide clear policy direction before the end of November.
While Commissioner Koskinen’s letter maintained neutrality on the policy question of whether or not to renew the tax extenders, he urgently states that a clear decision needs to be quickly made. It should be noted that he is writing to Chairman Ron Wyden, whose Committee has already come out strongly in favor of passing an extenders bill. Indeed, the Senate itself favored the EXPIRE act in a vote of 96 to 3 when contemplating cloture back in May.
While asking Chairman Wyden to communicate this urgent request to his colleagues, Commissioner Koskinen also confirms he is personally contacting Senator Orin Hatch (D, Utah) and Congressmen Dave Camp (R, Mich) and Sandy Levin (D, Mich). Senator Hatch is the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee. Congressmen Camp and Levin are the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee.
I am getting the impression that they are, in fact, listening.
