Grassley Maintains Pressure on Nonprofits via Treasury Dept.
Republican Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance raised again the issue of the legitimacy of some non-profit hospitals’ tax-exempt status during Eric Solomon’s confirmation hearing to be Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Tax Policy, U.S. Department of the Treasury. The whole hearing is available in Real Audio format here (move to the sixth minute for the start of the program). Jump one hour and 11 minutes into the broadcast to hear Grassley follow up on the questionnaires recently sent by the IRS to nonprofit hospitals with these requests:
- “a timeline for review and proposals for reforming guidance in this area;
- the individuals responsible at Treasury and IRS for reviewing the material submitted by hospitals and for drafting and reviewing new guidance so that we can talk to them;
- a copy of all documents memorandums material in the possession or control of IRS that ar erelated to that 1969 decision;
- a copy of all submissions from hospitals that the IRS receives as well as the names of the hospitals that did not respond.”
Solomon seemed reasonably aware of the issue at hand and agreed to “take a fresh look at this” and address the Senator’s concerns.
Eric Solomon joined the Treasury in October 1999 and is currently Deputy Assistant Secretary for Regulatory Affairs, Tax Policy. His nomination was announced by the White House on May 8 after a two-year search. His prepared statement focused on the tax system’s overwhelming complexity, tax compliance, and the “tax gap” between what taxpayers legally owe and what they actually pay.
Previously, Solomon was a partner at Ernst & Young LLP, where he was a member of the Mergers & Acquisitions Group of the National Tax Department in Washington, D.C. Before joining Ernst & Young, Eric served at the Internal Revenue Service for five years, as Assistant Chief Counsel (Corporate), heading the IRS legal division with responsibility for all corporate tax issues. Before joining the IRS, Eric Solomon practiced tax law in New York, and was a partner at Drinker Biddle & Reath in Philadelphia. He’s also an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University, where he teaches a course in corporate taxation.
July 13, 2006 Related topics: Legal & legislative, Finance, People