Tax Foundation Reviews

Thank you for your feedback and your comments, and for your time at the Tax Foundation. I certainly appreciate the positive comments but do want to respond to two raised negative points. Re sacred cows – no employee is a sacred cow. Every employee - of whatever level and whatever tenure – undergoes an annual performance review and must regularly account for their goals and achievements. It’s the main reason our staff of 26 is able to put over 80 major reports a year, present or testify in over 30 states, and appear in thousands of news articles. There’s not a lot of opportunity for people to get away with doing nothing – it gets noticed. Re performance reviews – our annual process is done each spring, with salary adjustments retroactive to January 1. The hectic pace of tax-related events in recent years – the primaries in early 2016, new administration in early 2017, the tax bill taking effect in early 2018 – consumed staff time across the organization and led to delays in getting reviews done until later in spring each year. We are planning on changing that, so that we stick to deadlines for this important process. We are also planning for additional feedback opportunities between formal performance review sessions. The formal process itself, which relies on a combination of self-reviews, peer feedback, and a manager-employee goal-setting session, is praised by employees as effective and appropriate in both non-anonymous and anonymous feedback. We continue to survey our staff and interns every year on ways to improve manager oversight and professional development, and welcome any suggestions. Joe Bishop-Henchman, henchman@taxfoundation.org