According to people familiar with the issue, the Trump administration began firing around 6,700 employees at the Internal Revenue Service on Thursday, costing federal agencies responsible for collecting tax revenues from millions of Americans. We have expanded reduction measures.
Cuts in jobs in the IRS have recently hit probation employees employed around the country. Over 5,000 of these workers are part of the agency's compliance team that handles audits and collections. The layoffs come a week before the start of the tax season, which is flooded with paperwork and questions from taxpayers.
The IRS employs approximately 100,000 accountants, lawyers and other staff across the country. The Biden administration was in the process of strengthening its execution and modernizing the institution with a $80 billion investment, but President Trump wants to curb that power, and Elon Musk and his so-called government efficiency We have examined the computer system.
An IRS spokesperson refused to provide an exact number of layoffs. This can be as high as 6,000 or 7,000 for some people familiar with the issue. People were allowed anonymous because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the situation.
Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, said Thursday that the layoffs are “absolutely at the table for good reason,” and Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent said the agency could afford to lose more than 3,500 people. He said he thinks there is.
Asked if IRS employees were being let go due to poor performance, Hassett said: They are all fully occupied. ”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Fox News Wednesday that Trump wanted to replace the IRS with “external revenue services” funded by tariff revenue.
“His goal is to abolish the Internal Revenue Service and have all outsiders pay,” Rutnick said.
The Treasury Department did not comment on job cuts.
In an email sent Wednesday, the IRS manager told employees eligible for layoffs it is not important for the filing season, an annual period in which millions of Americans prepare taxes. Still, the massive layoffs before the Spring Tax deadline have been linked to some tax experts and Democrats who may struggle to process their tax returns this year.
The National Treasury Officers Union, representing IRS workers, attacked the layoffs as a serious mistake by the Trump administration. The labor group called the dismissal “arbitrary and illegal.”
“The indiscriminate shootings of IRS employees across the country are economic disaster recipes,” said Doreen Greenwald, president of NTEU National. “If taxpayers expect quick customer service and smooth processing of tax returns in the middle of the tax season, the administration will defeat the entire operation by sending full-time civil servants to unemployment rates. I chose to do so.”
The IRS shooting is expected to be hit by recent recruiting employees focused on agency enforcement efforts. Tax agencies are trying to audit wealthy Americans and large corporations to hire more lawyers and accountants who can collect more taxes they owe. The IRS estimates that approximately $600 billion in taxes are collected each year.
“These misguided layoffs hurt everyday Americans who encourage them to pay taxes to the IRS to pay taxes,” New York University.
Hassett said the IRS is just a “small part” of the Trump administration's plan to fire workers who are considered poor performers.
“I live in DC,” Hassett said. “No one enters the building. People don't work, so people don't commute.”
“We're fixing that and the IRS is just a small part of that photo.”
That was clear Thursday as shootings continued throughout the federal government.
The Trump administration fired 243 probation employees at the Road Security Agency, the agency confirmed Thursday.
They included TSA officers and other administrative staff. Despite the cuts, the agency said it continues to hire mission-critical positions.
The TSA, part of the Homeland Security Agency, was established after the September 11th terrorist attacks. Congress accused the agency of protecting the country's transport system.
“Under President Trump's leadership, the TSA has terminated its staff during the probationary period due to performance and implementation issues,” agency spokesman Carter Langston said in a statement. “The agency is fully involved in the administration's priorities to identify waste and to place staff essential positions on missions that best meet DHS missions. I'm working on it.”
According to former staff members, the CIA has also moved to rejecting an unspecified number of officers working on recruitment and diversity issues. A federal judge will suspend these actions and hold a hearing Monday on whether the CIA can proceed with the termination, the largest mass shooting since 1977.
Mark Walker and Julian E. Burns Reports of contributions.
