John Klotsche

Following graduation from the University of Wisconsin Law School and a 1967-68 clerkship on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, John Klotsche practiced for 32 years with the international law firm Baker McKenzie specializing in advising multinational clients on U.S. tax matters. A significant part of Klotsche’s practice involved complex corporate tax litigation against the IRS and DOJ and he was lead counsel in landmark cases involving cross-border transfer pricing and other international tax issues.

Klotsche was elected Chairman of the Firm’s Executive Committee during his last five years (1995-2000), and was responsible for developing and implementing its global business strategy. Klotsche also had overall management responsibility for the Firm’s global business operations (7,000 employees, 2,500 lawyers, and 550 partners; Revenues $1.0 billion). He also was active in a number of outside non-governmental organizations that affect global business and legal policy involving Poland, Kazakhstan and the Republic of China, and he actively took part in the World Economic Forum Annual Meetings in Davos.

Klotsche was appointed Senior Advisor to the IRS Commissioner in 2003 and held that position for five years. His primary responsibility was to oversee the Agency’s internal and external enforcement efforts to combat abusive tax shelters designed and promoted by major accounting and law firms. He was also the lead representative on a one-year OECD project established by tax commissioners from 45 countries to develop and implement strategies for strengthening the relationships between corporate taxpayers and revenue authorities.

Klotsche founded PlainTaxTax® in 2008, a grass roots initiative designed to urge the IRS to scrap its archaic habits of obfuscation and substandard communication and embrace plain language in its public communications. Klotsche more recently has written a number of fiction and non-fiction short stories and op-ed pieces, many with a political or financial/tax focus. His writings appear in the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitor, Politico, and The Hill, among other publications.

In Donald John Trump: MEMEoir of a Stable Genius, Klotsche has put aside the writing field of informative short story pieces and boldly ventured into full-scale book publication of a highly controversial topic.