Government tax man joins AMS

John LaFaver, former director of the Treasury Department's International

Tax Advisory System, has joined American Management Systems Inc. as vice

president of its State and Local Solutions Group.

Before working for Treasury, LaFaver headed tax departments in Maine,

Montana and Kansas. While in Kansas, he made a name for himself with sweeping

changes to the state's revenue department.

"Kansas was the first really top-to-bottom rethinking of a revenue agency

in years," LaFaver said. "Working with AMS in Kansas really showed me that

they had the best approach to the process, which leads to the best solutions

to the problems."

Paramount among those problems, according to LaFaver, is a lack of communication

between taxpayer and agency. A taxpayer, LaFaver said, should be looked

at as a customer, with questions, concerns, interests and even enthusiasm

about the tax process.

"It's really all about a number of communications," LaFaver said. "And

regardless if it's online or by mail, if you can't pull all those communications

together, then all of this new technology is going to waste."

Virginia-based AMS is a $1.28 billion information technology consulting

firm that works with 43 state governments, most federal agencies and hundreds

of Fortune 500 companies.