Chapter 4 of Licensed to Exploit: The OBTP Accountability Project When the Oregon Board of Tax Practitioners says that a tax preparer must be licensed “in this state,” they don’t mean what you think they mean. They don’t mean physically in Oregon. They don’t mean domiciled or doing business in Oregon. They don’t even mean… Read more

Chapter 3 of Licensed to Exploit: The OBTP Accountability Project If the Oregon Board of Tax Practitioners built the wall, the Department of Justice sealed it. I requested fee waivers for multiple public record requests. And, as is true to their character, the OBTP’s denied them. I appealed the denial to the Attorney General’s office.… Read more

Chapter 2 of Licensed to Exploit: The OBTP Accountability Project The price of asking questions? $6,000. That’s what the Oregon Board of Tax Practitioners told me it would cost to access records related to their unprecedented claim that out-of-state tax preparers must be licensed in Oregon. I had filed three separate public records requests—each asking… Read more

It started with a calm, reasonable question: Where’s the rule? On October 3, 2024, I asked the Oregon Board of Tax Practitioners to show their work—meeting minutes, internal memos, anything that justified their claim that out-of-state tax preparers must be licensed in Oregon. Their response? Delay, deflection, and a denial of my fee waiver on… Read more