Reggie Oldak, Senior Counsel and Director of Government Relations

Reggie Oldak is Senior Counsel for Family Economic Security and Director of Government Relations. She focuses particularly on taxes and the federal budget.  Before joining the Center, Ms. Oldak worked for the Chief Counsel of the Internal Revenue Service and then in private practice on issues affecting the taxation of nonprofit organizations. She is a past president of the Montgomery County (MD) Commission for Women, currently chairs the Board of Directors of Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington, and has worked extensively with local and state government representatives and community leaders in Maryland to advocate for issues central to the concerns of women and families. She has been active in politics and in 2006 won the endorsement of The Washington Post when she ran for (and almost won!) a seat in the Maryland House of Delegates. Ms. Oldak is graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center and Smith College.

Expert in: Federal Budget, Federal Tax Policy, Data on Poverty & Income, Tax & Budget
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My Take

Yes, Virginia, You Have an Advocate at the IRS

Posted by Reggie Oldak, Senior Counsel and Director of Government Relations | Posted on: March 17, 2010 at 08:32 pm

by Reggie Oldak, Senior Counsel,
National Women's Law Center

The Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) is an independent organization within the IRS whose mission is to ensure that tax problems not resolved through normal channels are promptly and fairly handled. Each state has a Taxpayer Advocate to assist that state’s taxpayers.

Nina E. Olson, the National Taxpayer Advocate, heads the TAS. Yesterday, she testified before the House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommitee about problems people have in dealing with the IRS. As we approach the April 15th deadline for filing our taxes, you might not be surprised to hear that she said the current IRS telephone service is "inadequate". 

Of special note, however, is that she also said the agency is not doing enough to meet the needs of low-income taxpayers. We know that low-income taxpayers are disproportionately women. Ms. Olson pointed out that low-income taxpayers have other characteristics that not only limit their ability to earn income but also impair their ability to comply with documentation requests in tax disputes. 

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Tags: Poverty & Income Support, Tax & Budget | Add new comment

Make Wealthy Investors Pay Their Fair Share of Medicare Taxes

Posted by Reggie Oldak, Senior Counsel and Director of Government Relations | Posted on: March 09, 2010 at 02:15 pm

by Reggie Oldak, Senior Counsel,
National Women's Law Center

President Obama is stepping up the pressure on Congress to pass health care reform now. His plan includes a financing proposal that would raise almost $184 billion over ten years by making sure the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share to support Medicare. 

Medicare is financed by a combination of a dedicated tax on earnings paid by workers and employers, income tax, and premiums paid by beneficiaries. But wealthy investors aren’t contributing their fair share because investment income—such as dividends, interest, and capital gains—is entirely exempt from the Medicare tax. (And, because income from capital gains and dividends is taxed at substantially lower income tax rates than income from work, wealthy investors get another break there.)

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Tags: Health Care Reform, Health Care & Reproductive Rights, Tax & Budget | Add new comment

Death and Taxes

Posted by Reggie Oldak, Senior Counsel and Director of Government Relations | Posted on: February 22, 2010 at 04:12 pm

by Reggie Oldak, Senior Counsel,
National Women's Law Center

Last Thursday, a man deliberately crashed his private plane into an Austin, Texas building that houses the Internal Revenue Service. We are appalled at this act of violence that resulted in at least two deaths and seriously injured others. 

But the tragedy does call attention to important (if arcane) tax issues. The pilot’s motive may have been a grievance about whether he was an employee or an independent contractor for employment tax purposes. The issue is complicated, and a full analysis involves the Internal Revenue Code, 20 common-law factors, years of court cases and administrative rulings, section 530 of the Revenue Act of 1978, and section 1706 of the 1986 Tax Reform Act. 

This pilot, a computer software engineer, apparently wanted to be treated as an independent contractor because that would have provided him with more work opportunities. For most women, it’s the other way around. 

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Tags: Tax & Budget | 1 comment

The Rich Got Richer – and They Paid Lower Taxes!

Posted by Reggie Oldak, Senior Counsel and Director of Government Relations | Posted on: February 18, 2010 at 08:13 pm

by Reggie Oldak, Senior Counsel,
National Women's Law Center

According to a recently-released IRS report, the earnings of the 400 wealthiest taxpayers hit new highs in 2007. Adding insult to injury, the tax rates they paid dipped to new lows.

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Why Tax Banks? That’s Where The Money Is.

Posted by Reggie Oldak, Senior Counsel and Director of Government Relations | Posted on: January 14, 2010 at 08:51 pm

by Reggie Oldak, Senior Counsel,
National Women's Law Center

President Obama today called for a “Fiscal Crisis Responsibility Fee” to be paid by about 50 of the largest financial institutions to “recover every single dime the American people are owed” for the bailout of Wall Street.

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Tags: Tax & Budget | 3 comments