Ken Kies

Ken Kies is an American tax lawyer and tax lobbyist who is influential in devising tax avoidance strategies for multinational companies and the ultrawealthy. He was nominated by President Donald Trump to assistant secretary for tax policy at the Treasury Department and confirmed by the Senate in June 2025. He helped to write the Tax Reform Act of 1986.

In 1998, he joined accounting and lobbying firm PWC where he led an effort against the Bill Clinton administration's attempt to close the "check the box" corporate tax loophole that enabled companies to shift trillions of dollars to offshore tax havens.

In 2003, Tax Notes ranked Kies as the second-most influential tax lobbyist in Washington D.C.

In 2017, he lobbied for a 20% deduction for some businesses, which overwhelmingly favored the wealthiest Americans. It was passed as part of the first Trump administration's tax cuts.

In 2022, he was hired by to lobby against an I.R.S effort to crack down on the “dirty dozen” list of abusive tax shelters. On a January 2022 call, he said he could use his relationship with Nikole Flax, a top IRS official, to fight the IRS plan. On the call, he said, "If we could actually put people at the I.R.S., the world would be a better place."