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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; While growing up in Plymouth, David Kautter said he learned several values that have stayed with him his entire life &#8212; work hard, caring about people, and always trying to do the right thing.</p><p>Kautter said Monday that those core values will help him as he begins his newest job as Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy at the U.S. Treasury.</p><p>Kautter, 69, was nominated for the post in May by President Donald Trump and the U.S. Senate confirmed his appointment Aug. 3.</p><p>&#8220;I hope I have lived up to those values,&#8221; Kautter said. &#8220;What I learned in Plymouth and the Wyoming Valley has kept me in good standing all my life.&#8221;</p><p>Kautter, who still keeps a place at Harveys Lake that he visits often, said he will always remember his days at Plymouth High School &#8212; where his mother was a teacher and where he graduated from in 1966. He frequented places like Grotto Pizza at Harveys Lake and Abe&#8217;s Hot Dogs in Kingston. He noted that Grotto Pizza began as Joe&#8217;s Pizza on East Main Street in Plymouth.</p><p>He and his wife, the former Kathy Price of Kingston, have two children, Hilary, 35, and David Jr., 31.</p><p>Kautter had served as the partner in charge of the Washington tax practice of RSM, a tax and consulting services firm, and he worked at Ernst &amp; Young for more than 30 years. He also served as a Capitol Hill staffer for former Sen. John Danforth of Missouri.</p><p>Kautter is expected to be a main part of compiling the Trump Administration&#8217;s tax policy reform. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly vowed to lower taxes for the middle class.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m going to try,&#8221; Kautter said of his new position.</p><p>Kautter said he had a Times Leader paper route when he was a kid growing up on High Street in Plymouth. He delivered papers to customers on Center Avenue and across Shawnee Avenue.</p><p>&#8216;I can still remember who paid on time and who didn&#8217;t,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I learned a lot about life on that paper route.&#8221;</p><p>When he graduated from high school, Kautter traveled to Australia as a Rotary exchange student. He said it was his first time on an airplane.</p><p>&#8220;Here I was halfway around the world,&#8221; Kautter recalled. &#8220;That experience of being an exchange student sort of opened my eyes to the rest of the world.&#8221;</p><p><strong>&#8216;IRS code a mess&#8217;</strong></p><p>Kautter attended the University of Notre Dame where he received a Business Administration degree with high honors in 1971. During his sophomore year, he traveled to Tokyo, Japan, where he learned about Asian culture and religions before returning to Notre Dame to finish his studies. Kautter earned his Juris Doctorate at Georgetown University Law Center in 1974.</p><p>Kautter was happy to attend Georgetown because Washington, D.C., was much closer to Northeastern Pennsylvania.</p><p>Trump nominated Kautter for the treasury post May 10, and his nomination was advanced from the Senate Finance Committee on July 20 by a unanimous vote of 26-0. He was confirmed last Thursday by the full Senate.</p><p>Prior to joining RSM in 2014, Kautter served as managing director of the Kogod Tax Center and as executive-in-residence at the Kogod School of Business at American University. During his time on Capitol Hill as tax legislative counsel, he worked on the Reagan tax cuts in 1981.</p><p>Kautter said he retired in 2010 and didn&#8217;t have any plans to return to the workforce.</p><p>&#8220;I figured with the hours I already had in over the years, I had already worked to the age of 85,&#8221; Kautter said.</p><p>At RSM, Kautter was chief operating and management executive for the firm&#8217;s Washington National Tax Office, where he was responsible for leading day-to-day operations. He was also responsible for maintaining relationships with tax writing committees and staffs on Capitol Hill, the U.S. Treasury Department, IRS, law firms, other major accounting firms and the press.</p><p>Kautter said he was contacted by the Trump transition team in January about becoming the assistant secretary for tax policy.</p><p>&#8220;The IRS code has become a mess,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I will try to straighten it out.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">David Kautter </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_David-Kautter.jpg</photo0><caption0>David Kautter </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Bill O&#8217;Boyle</p><p>boboyle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Bill O&#8217;Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Plymouth native confirmed as assistant secretary at U.S. Treasury