January 12,2004

Grassley on KPMG's Commitment to Targeting Tax Shelter Abuses

M E M O R A N D U M

To: Reporters and Editors
Re: KPMG announcement of leadership changes
Da: Monday, Jan. 12, 2004

Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Committee on Finance, today made the followingcomment on KPMG’s announcement of leadership changes in its tax practice.

“Last October, a KPMG whistleblower testified before the Finance Committee about a corporate culture that rewards those who promote abusive tax shelters. Since then, I’ve been looking for signs that KPMG is grabbing a broom to help clean up the tax shelter mess. This move isn’t the clean sweep I’d hoped to see. Moving or removing top people might help, but the most helpful step would be complying with the IRS’ summons seeking tax shelter client names and other information. I hope KPMG will cooperate fully with the IRS to help the agency police abusive tax shelters. I’ll continue to make sure cleaning up abusive tax shelters is a priority for the Finance Committee.”