Politics
REPORT: IRS Prepares To Lay Off Thousands Of Workers As DOGE Audit Continues
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is preparing to lay off thousands of probationary workers, two sources familiar with the matter told the Associated Press. The expected cuts, which could begin as early as next week, come just days after a staffer with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team met with senior agency staffers.
It is unclear exactly how many employees will be affected by the planned layoffs, though cuts are expected to be significant. President Trump has long vowed to significantly reduce the agency’s workforce and claw back some of the $80 million in additional funding that was successfully implemented by Democrats in 2023.
Republican lawmakers have been working to reverse the IRS expansion that was spearheaded by then-President Biden in 2022. Democrats were ultimately able to secure an additional $80 million in funding for the agency while an additional 80,000 or so workers were hired. Republicans opposed the expansion and have already worked to remove some of the agency’s additional funding.
Gavin Kliger, who has played a key role in Musk’s DOGE initiative while embedded with the Office of Personnel Management, met with senior IRS executives on Thursday. Kliger’s visit marked the first time a member of Musk’s DOGE team has visited the agency’s Washington D.C. headquarters.
In the email, senior executives were told that the General Services Administration (GSA), which manages the vast majority of government contracts, has ordered the IRS to review all contracts that fall under their purview in order to determine whether they will remain necessary. The GSA has the authority to deem a contract if it “merely generates a report, research, coaching, or an artifact,” the email states.
“Consistent with the goals and directives of the Trump administration to eliminate waste, reduce spending, and increase efficiency, GSA has taken the first steps in a government-wide initiative to eliminate non-essential consulting contracts,” the email went on to say.
House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-MO) has called for a complete overhaul of the tax agency, pointing to past instances of weaponization against conservatives.
Smith recently penned a letter to acting IRS Commissioner Douglas O’Donnell calling for ongoing oversight of the agency to ensure it takes steps to “rebuild trust” with Americans after “lawless and politically motivated behavior.”
“The story of the last two years at the IRS is one of both failure and outright weaponization of the agency driven in part by the Democrats’ decision to prioritize hiring 87,000 new IRS agents to audit working families over providing basic customer services,” the congressman told Fox News. “There are too many examples of problems at the IRS to count.”
