Tom Johnson is widely respected as one of the state’s foremost experts on taxes and revenue matters, having served as the Director of the Illinois Department of Revenue under Gov. Jim Thompson for seven years in the 1980s. He has served in his current role at the Taypayers’ Federation since 2006 and in 2009 was appointed to chair the Taxpayer Action Board by Gov. Pat Quinn to identify cost and operating efficiencies in state government. Prior to that, he served on the Property Tax Reform and Relief Task Force established by the state legislature in 2007. Johnson spent many years in the public accounting field with KPMG and Grant Thornton, served on President Reagan’s Task Force on Worldwide Unitary Taxation and was Chairman of the Illinois Gaming Board under Gov. Jim Edgar. His advice and counsel is consistently sought after by policymakers and journalists.