Julio Gonzalez founded Engineered Tax Services in 2001 with a blunt premise: sophisticated tax strategy should not belong only to the largest companies in America.
Twenty-five years later, the Founder, CEO, and Chairman of ETS has built a national specialty tax firm with 26 offices, more than 1,000 clients, tens of thousands of engineering-based studies, and more than $2 billion in documented client tax savings. On November 12, he will appear at Mar-a-Lago as part of the lineup for the Second Annual Citizen Journalist Gala alongside James O’Keefe and other voices in independent media.
“Looking forward to an incredible evening at Mar-a-Lago,” Gonzalez said. “Hope to see you there.”
The Firm He Built
Gonzalez created ETS so accounting firms could walk into a client meeting with engineers, tax attorneys, and scientists behind them. The work — cost segregation, energy incentives (including 179D and 45L), research and development credits, construction tax planning, Opportunity Zone studies, historic tax credits, and related engineering-based analyses — had historically sat inside Fortune 500 planning rooms and the largest national accounting practices. He put it next to CPAs instead of around them.
The firm is licensed as an engineering practice and works collaboratively with accountants and attorneys so studies can stand up to IRS and multi-state review. Under his leadership ETS has grown into one of the country’s leading specialty tax firms, headquartered in West Palm Beach. He has been named among Accounting Today’s Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting and advises policymakers in Washington on tax reform. He is the author of Why Billionaires Love the Tax Code and The Grant Equality Blueprint.
He expanded the platform through acquisitions, including The Growth Partnership, ABLE CRM, Inside Public Accounting, and J.E. Salazar & Associates, and through a deliberate widening of the mandate. A lower tax bill, Gonzalez has said, is only one form of capital. Grants, government contracts, and government funding can launch a program, hire people, or give a community organization a durable footing. “Our mission has grown from tax equality to tax and grant equality.”
He has said the average small business pays a far higher effective rate than large corporations, not because the code is closed to them, but because they were never shown how to use it. The biggest source of capital for many owners, in his view, is lowering that rate and finding the public funding already written for operators like them. He has also noted that only a small share of small businesses apply for grants while large corporations routinely pursue government contracts and funding.
The Ventures Around It
Gonzalez did not stop at the core tax practice.
ETS Cares and Engineered Impact. Under the charge to “Engineer a Better World,” these initiatives put the firm’s relationships and platform behind veterans, second-chance programs, nonprofits, animal rescue, and underserved communities, including work with students at Roosevelt Elementary in West Palm Beach. He chairs ETS’s Minority Advisory Board, formed to expand tax and grant access for minority entrepreneurs, women-owned businesses, and community operators. Charles “Duke” Tanner serves as Vice President of Community Affairs & Outreach and National Ambassador and sits on that board.
Engineered Jet Tax and Engineered Aviation. He extended the same thesis into private aviation: own the asset, structure the tax, and treat aircraft ownership as a financial decision rather than a luxury purchase. The practice advises on acquisition, ownership structure, bonus depreciation, charter placement, and ongoing management for qualifying buyers facing a meaningful tax event.
Family office and real estate. Alongside ETS he operates Gonzalez Family Office, Calle Gato Ocho, and related entities that invest in real estate, private equity, and venture capital. Calle Gato Ocho holds direct multifamily and mixed-use real estate for the family.
Across all of it he has held one line: the firm will not recommend a strategy, credit, study, grant, or contract it cannot support with expertise and documentation.
Boards, Policy, and Recognition
Gonzalez is in Washington regularly advising on tax reform and has served on or with organizations including the Republican Hispanic National Association, the James Madison Institute, the Forbes Finance Council, The Real Estate Roundtable President’s Council, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In May 2026 the Hispanic 100 Foundation honored him with the American Legacy of Excellence in Business award at its Night of Distinction Gala in Washington. On October 2, 2026, he received the Luminary Award for Humanitarian Impact at the Luminous Advocacy Project’s Light Up the Night Gala in Miami, dedicated to his mother, Paula Gonzalez, whom he lost to breast cancer. He has said she believed in him before he had accomplished anything, and that pain can become purpose and success can become service.
Why the Gala Fits
The Citizen Journalist Gala is built around tough questions, independent reporting, and an informed public. Gonzalez’s inclusion places a national voice on tax reform and economic access on that stage. His argument has long been that the public should know what the system actually contains — credits, incentives, grants, and contracts that exist but are rarely briefed to the operators who could use them. Opportunity, he has said, should never die in the fine print.
“True success isn’t measured only by what we achieve,” he has said. “It’s measured by how many people and communities we help along the way.”
Tickets for the November 12 evening are available at citizenjournalistgala.com.
Event Details
Second Annual Citizen Journalist Gala
Wednesday, November 12, 2026
Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach, Florida
Tickets: citizenjournalistgala.com
About Julio Gonzalez
Julio Gonzalez is Founder, CEO, and Chairman of Engineered Tax Services and the force behind ETS Cares, Engineered Impact, Engineered Jet Tax, and related family office and real-estate ventures. A national tax reform expert and Hispanic entrepreneur, he advises in Washington and has built his public mission around tax equality, grant equality, and expanding access to capital.
About Engineered Tax Services
Engineered Tax Services is a national specialty tax, incentives, grants, and government-funding firm headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida, with 26 offices and more than $2 billion in documented client tax savings.
Issued by The KR Media Group
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Engineered Tax Services
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www.engineeredtaxservices.com
