April 17, 2008 | Read Time: 1 minute
Sen. Charles E. Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, has tapped a former Internal Revenue Service official to replace a well-known former aide who had aggressively pursued efforts to regulate nonprofit organizations.
Theresa Pattara, who was a project manager at the IRS Office of Exempt Organizations, will replace Dean Zerbe as Mr. Grassley’s senior tax counsel. Mr. Zerbe left the post in February to join the Washington office of the Alliant Group, a Houston tax-consulting company.
Mr. Zerbe had been a controversial figure in philanthropy, pushing efforts to tighten the rules that govern college endowments, nonprofit hospitals, donor-advised funds, supporting organizations, and evangelical ministries.
Ms. Pattara has a similar reputation. During her time with the IRS, she managed efforts to enforce the Pension Protection Act of 2006 and worked on the revision of the Form 990 informational tax return. The overhaul was the first significant effort in 25 years to revamp the form, which most charities must fill out to disclose data about their finances and operations.
She had also worked with Mr. Zerbe on Mr. Grassley’s Finance Committee staff in 2005 and 2006 as a Capitol Hill fellow.
“The federal Treasury forgoes billions of dollars a year from tax-exempt groups,” Mr. Grassley said in a written statement. “I need a good member of my tax team to help make sure tax-exempt policy works as well as possible. Theresa knows these issues inside and out.”
