GOVERNMENT NEWS
Tom Petska retired May 1 after 36 years of distinguished service in the federal statistical system, most recently as director of the
Statistics of Income (SOI) Division of IRS. The following is adapted from a two-part column Petska wrote for the SOI Newsletter.
In distributing Part I, he comments that he wasn’t sure if his career in the federal statistical system “was more of Disney’s ‘Mr. Toad’s
Wild Ride’ or the Grateful Dead’s ‘Long Strange Journey’.” We will let the reader decide.
Saying Goodbye to SOI
Tom Petska, Former Director of statistics of Income Division of IRs
N
ow that my SOI career of today). I knew I had a lot to manager candidate for several
has ended, I’d like to say learn about SOI and its comput- SOI section chief positions.
a final farewell and offer er systems, as well as the subject When an opening came avail-
a few parting thoughts. It’s been areas for SOI’s statistical studies, able for chief of the Corporation
an interesting and exciting 28 and my first assignment was to Special Projects Section, I was
years, and a lot has changed. As I finish consistency test and table offered the position and gladly
write this, I’m thinking about specifications on the 1979 Private accepted. That job had respon-
what I’ll most miss. As the lyrics Foundation Study. When I began, sibilities similar to the section
from the Joni Mitchell song “Big I didn’t know what a foundation today, plus a number of record
Petska
Yellow Taxi” say, “Don’t it always was. I finished the specifications linkage studies, particularly
seem to go that you don’t know and later flew to the Detroit Data partnerships and S corporations
what you’ve got ’til it’s gone.” I Center to conduct editing train- matched to Schedules K-1 and
know I will miss working on the ing. I think I may have been the individual returns, and corpora-
important studies with many first person in SOI whose initial tion, partnerships, and propri-
bright and talented people who exposure to a data editing training etorships linkages to Forms 941
have a “can do” attitude and ded- class was to teach all of it, but the and 943, employment and pay-
ication to our mission. I will also editors were engaged and helpful, roll schedules. To say that I again
miss our many customers who and the class went well. needed a lot of rapid learning is
appreciate the challenges and dif- In under three years in the an understatement, since this was
ficulties of our work and are sup- section, I authored the first SOI a period in which partnerships
portive and understanding. Bulletin article on private founda- were creatively used as vehicles
The years since coming tions; wrote and presented three for tax shelters.
over from the Social Security American Statistical Association Later on, I authored and coau-
Administration (SSA) in late papers; and took over all respon- thored some AsA papers and
1980 have been interesting and sibility for subject-matter work [SOI] Bulletin articles on part-
exciting. Ronald Reagan had just on private foundations, chari- nerships, partners, and tax shel-
been elected president, promis- table and split-interest trusts, ters with Treasury’s Susie Nelson,
ing a government-wide hiring some residual work on farmers’ and even had the opportunity
freeze to get government finances cooperatives, the Estate Income to present the results to then
under control. One rumor was Collation study, and SOI’s first- Commissioner Goldberg, who
that attempts were under way to time involvement in the Federal was seeking evidence that the
make the hiring freeze retroactive Reserve Board’s Survey of 1986 Tax Reform Act had turned
to the election so that my resig- Consumer Finances (SCF). I even the corner on tax shelters.
nation from the SSA would be designed the high-wealth sample In 1988, I was selected for
accepted, but my job offer to join supplement for the 1983 SCF. To a senior manager position,
SOI could be rescinded. say that I quickly had a lot put on chief of the Coordination and
Fortunately, that didn’t hap- my plate was an understatement, Publications staff. In addition to
pen, and I came over as a GS-12 but I loved every minute of it. those two teams, the responsi-
economist, assigned to the In 1983, I applied to the new bilities included senior manage-
Wealth and Tax Exempt Section Management Careers Program ment of an administrative team,
(that looked a lot like the Special and, along with Dave Paris, a newly formed Mathematical
Studies Special Projects Section became certified as a front-line Statistics Section, the Statistical
52 AmstAt News JUNE 2009
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