Dakota CPA Connection Produced by the North Dakota CPA Society
January 2026 | Volume XXXVIII | No. 01
2025 AICPA National Tax Conference
Tom Fauchald Chair of NDCPA Tax Committee
It was my pleasure to virtually attend the 2025 AICPA National Tax Conference. Our keynote speaker was Professor Emeritus of the Yale law School Michael Gratez. Professor Graetz’s presentation was entitled “The power to Destroy How the Antitax Movement Hijacked America”. The presentation was based on a book that Professor published in 2024. The professor’s presentation laid out the thesis that America is in a situation where it is very difficult to raise taxes and is instead in a position where there is always pressure to cut taxes. The professor gave the history of how this attitude on taxes evolved in modern America (although if memory serves me taxation was a major cause of our Revolution in 1776). The Professor feels that the pressure to not raise taxes is leading to huge increases in the Federal deficit. The professor did not discuss the other end of the equation that the government is unwilling to make budget cuts, so that borrowing is the only way to generate money to pay the government’s bills. In evidence that Americans are under taxed the Professor pointed out then when compared with the other richest counties in the world the USA ranks 30th out of 36 counties in the percentage of GDP devoted to all taxes (approximately 25% of GDP). In addition to our keynote the Conference had a second general session entitled “Insider Insights: A Conversation with Former IRS Commissioners and the National Taxpayer Advocate Update”. There were three ex Commissioners on the panel who were asked questions by the AICPA Vice President of Tax Policy. To be honest there really wasn’t much discussion of current IRS issues because none of the
ex-commissioners are connected directly to the IRS anymore, but it was interesting to hear about how things were when they were Commissioner. The Tax Advocate, who is appointed by Congress, was guarded on what she said on what is currently happening at the agency, other than her department had a major reduction in force and that the work is overwhelming. One of my favorite sessions each year is one entitled “Dealing with the IRS in the Current Era”. The two presenters are heavy duty litigators who deal with contentious audits and appeals to the IRS Appellate Division and Tax Court cases. These two presenters give what I feel is an accurate picture of what is happening with the service. Their feeling is that the IRS has been hit hard and the performance with audits has declined and that dealing with any account issues is a huge mess. By account issues they mean things like collections, refunds or anything to where a taxpayer’s information must be dealt with and changed. They felt their clients are not getting the responses that they need and deserve. Why? The presenters pointed out that the IRS has had seven Commissioners in the last year with the Continued on page 5
In This Issue • 2 Presidents Message • 3 Member News
• 3 New Members • 4 Directors Message
January 2026 | Page 1
• 6 New Directors • 7 B&I Miniseries
• 7 Save the Dates • 9 Ethics Corner
• 11 Tax Commissioner