“Tax is not all that dry,” Gilbert Rothenberg insisted to his audience at the Levin College of Law. Certainly, Rothenberg should know.

In his presentation titled, “Protecting the Fisc: The Tax Division’s Role in Enforcing the Nation’s Tax Laws,” Rothenberg spoke as part of the Levin College of Law’s Graduate Tax Program’s Speaker Enrichment Series. He is currently chief of the appellate section of the tax division and acting deputy assistant attorney general of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Rothenberg calls the division the “enforcement arm” of the Internal Revenue Service. Often, he said, compliance with tax laws is induced by the threat of judicial enforcement, but in cases where that is not enough, his office “brings timely action into the courts.”

Rothenberg stated that the division boasts a victory and partial victory rate of over 95 percent of cases and in 2008 collected $1 billion dollars as the result of such action.

He discussed several broad areas of tax policy, including international tax law, domestic criminal tax law, and the varied litigation associated with each.

Noting the effect of the economy on individuals’ willingness to undertake legally questionable activities in order to save money, Rothenberg stated that the recent economic recession has seen an upturn of criminal tax evasion and greater cooperation among the international community to curtail tax evasion, since national governments are also hurting for revenue.

Rothenberg summarized his role and the role of tax division itself, stating, “There is one overriding objective: let’s make our tax system work.”