Midyear conference underscores TEI's strengths.

• Author: Glennie, J.A.
• Position: President's Corner

More than 500 TEI members and other tax executives travelled to Washington the fourth week of March for the Institute's Midyear Conference. A ritual for half of century, TEI's spring meeting has historically afforded tax professionals an excellent opportunity for hear up-to-date reports on legislation, regulations, and other tax developments, to learn from and exchange information with our colleagues in other companies, and to experience the beauty and excitement that is Washington in the springtime.

On all counts, this year's meeting succeeded. From Treasury Secretary John Snow's opening address on Monday morning to the final three concurrent sessions on Wednesday morning, the conference did not disappoint from a technical perspective. Secretary Snow's keynote marked the first time in more than four decades that the Administration's top economic official addressed TEI, and I was pleased not only to introduce the Secretary to TEI but to introduce the C-SPAN audience to the Institute and its activities. Secretary Snow's incisive comments on the economy and the President's tax package--most notably, the Administration's dividend exclusion proposal--set the stage for a number of other conference sessions, including a lively, informative, and bipartisan panel of congressional aides (moderated by TEI's own Ray Rossi and Fred Murray) who discussed the prospects for legislation in the coming months.

Keynote Speakers from the IRS

At our Monday luncheon, Larry Langdon, Commissioner of the IRS's Large and Mid-Size Business Division, delivered his valedictory address to TEI. Commissioner Langdon's participation in the conference was not originally billed that way--as his last as LMSB Commissioner. Rather, he was slated to reprise an earlier appearance where he updated conference registrants on LMSB's initiatives, including the much-heralded "LIFE" (or limited issue focused examination) program. Shortly before the conference, however, Larry announced that he would be retiring from government service at the end of May. Hence, the conference afforded TEI an opportunity to hear from LMSB's Commissioner "one last time" and also to express its appreciation to him for his ongoing contributions to tax administration, first as a member of the Institute (and, indeed, its 1988-1989 President) and then as a senior government official.

Larry Langdon was not the only person the Institute thanked at its Monday luncheon. The Institute also used the occasion to...