152. Pete Sepp, President, National Taxpayers Union, on Taxpayer Rights, IRS Reform, and Building Cross-Partisan Alliances
Update: 2025-08-14
Description
What does it mean to advocate for taxpayer rights in an increasingly polarized political landscape? Can alliances between the left and right yield real reform in tax policy?
In this episode of Associations Thrive, host Joanna Pineda interviews Pete Sepp, President of the National Taxpayers Union (NTU). Pete discusses:
- How NTU, founded in 1969, is a nonpartisan organization focused on simpler, fairer, lower taxes, less wasteful spending, and taxpayer rights.
- NTU’s mission to fill gaps in the tax policy advocacy space, working on issues that other organizations ignore or overlook.
- Why NTU identified IRS reform as a key issue — and how they view it as a human rights concern, not just a policy issue.
- How NTU built a diverse coalition — including organizations like the ACLU and La Raza — to push for taxpayer rights reforms.
- NTU’s creation of the Taxpayer Defense Center to pursue public interest litigation in precedent-setting tax cases.
- How the NTU Foundation’s “Tax Basics” provides factual, accessible answers to common taxpayer questions.
- The internal practices that earned NTU a spot on Washingtonian’s “Best Places to Work” list, including entrepreneurship and low internal politics.
- Pete’s philosophy that association CEOs must focus on the “Four M’s” — Money, Money, Money, and Money — to lead effectively.
- His success in working across ideological lines by reading opposing viewpoints, reaching out, and finding common ground.
References:
- NTU Website
- Which States are Best for Remote Workers? 2025 Remote Obligations and Mobility (ROAM) Index - Foundation - National Taxpayers Union
- NTU’s Taxpayer Defense Center
- Inside the One Big Beautiful Bill Act: Major Tax Provisions and Their Impact - Foundation - National Taxpayers Union
- NTU’s Taxpayers for IRS Transformation
- 18 Great Places to Work in the DC Area
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