On Friday, the IRS eased net operating loss rules for companies that sold stock to the Government under the TARP program, resulting in a $38 billion tax break for Citigroup. On Monday, Citigroup agreed to repay the $20 billion of TARP funds it received from the Treasury Department.

"The government is consciously forfeiting future tax revenues. It's another form of assistance, maybe not as obvious as direct assistance but certainly another form," said Robert Willens, an expert on tax accounting who runs a firm of the same name. "I've been doing taxes for almost 40 years, and I've never seen anything like this, where the IRS and Treasury acted unilaterally on so many fronts."