Play of the Day: Another Trump Administration Plan to Wreck the Tax Division (4/22/25; 4/23/25)

Recognizing that it had not thought through its plan to disperse DOJ Tax Division lawyers to USAOs around the country, DOJ is now floating another possibility to weaken the Tax Division. According to Talking Points Memo, Josh Marshall, DOJ Scraps Plan to Shutter Tax Division (Talking Points Memo 4/21/25), here:

          Division personnel were informed this evening that that plan has been shelved in favor of a new plan. Under this new reorganization plan the Tax Division’s criminal side would be placed within the Criminal Division and the civil side within the Civil Division. So there’s an element of institutional demotion. But these two parts of the Tax Division would remain more or less intact within these new homes, as I understand it. It’s still a major change but dramatically different than the original reorganization plan which I reported on April 8th. It’s not clear yet based on tonight’s email to Tax Division staff whether this means there will no longer be a “Tax Division” within the DOJ. It appears not. But under this new plan it would be more a matter of reorganizing the org chart than actually cutting the operational units and personnel.

I am a believer in not trying to fix something that is not broken. Given its role in the tax system, DOJ Tax was not broken. Hence any such major reorganization is simply trying to give the appearance that the Trump Administration is doing something, when in fact that something is counterproductive.

That does not mean that some improvements cannot be made in the Tax Division. I am sure that organizational tweaks can be made. But such “solutions” as have been floated are not organizational tweaks. They appear rather as disruptive and decreased effectiveness bludgeons.

The balance of this post is my editorial comment, so some may want to stop reading here.

Death of Donald Benjamin Susswein 4/2/25 (4/4/25)

Donald Susswein died on 4/2/25. His obituary is here. The excerpt from the obituary related to his Tax Division service is:

Before working in the Senate, Don argued the government’s position in tax controversies before the US Courts of Appeals and selected state appellate and high courts, as an attorney in the Honors Program of the Appellate Section of the Tax Division of the Department of Justice.

My database indicates that his service in DOJ Tax Appellate was from 1978 to 1982.

The obit indicates that a funeral service and remembrances are:

A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, April 8 at the Garden of Remembrance Chapel in Clarksburg, MD with a live stream available through the Garden of Remembrance website. In lieu of flowers, donations can be to the Special Olympics (specialolympics.org), Young Artists of America (youngartistsamerica.org), or become an organ donor at Donate Life DC (donatelifedc.net).