A day trip to Chicago allowed three Trine University accounting students to get a
closer look at tax law processes, legislation and institutions.
Joey Baughman of Lake Orion, Michigan, Samuel Sering of Indianapolis and Josh Myers
of Hicksville, Ohio, accompanied Al Beatty, assistant professor in Trine’s Ketner
School of Business, to locations including the IRS Taxpayers Assistance Office, IRS
Tax Court, the office of Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and the Federal Reserve on
Oct. 30.
“It was a fun, informative and quick trip,” said Beatty. “We left at 6:10 a.m. and
returned just before 7 p.m.”
Baughman participated because he plans to attend law school and the trip was centered
around the Tax Court. He particularly enjoyed meeting Andrew VanSingel, territory
manager for the Internal Revenue Service IRS Wage & Investment: Stakeholder Partnerships,
Education, and Communication (SPEC).
VanSingel was the primary organizer of the trip.
“He was very willing to answer some of my questions and was a great help,” Baughman
said.
The group also met with representatives from the IRS Taxpayers Assistance Office,
spoke with the Hon. Albert Lauber, senior judge of the United States Tax Court, via
Zoom, and watched a hearing of the Tax Court.
“Originally, the judge and the petitioner were to be in Chicago for the hearing, but
all of the cases were resolved out of court except for this one, which is why it was
Zoomed,” Beatty said.
They spoke with an attorney from Ladder Up, a nonprofit organization that provides
free financial consulting resources to help low-income clients secure opportunities
to move up the economic ladder.
Later, they toured Sen. Duckworth’s office, visited the Money Room (museum) at the
Federal Reserve and walked by the Chicago Board of Trade.
“I learned a lot about how the offices of congressmen and women operate,” said Baughman.
“I thought it particularly interesting to see how the office operates even while,
in this case, the senator was not currently in office.”