President Donald Trump, together with co-President Elon Musk and his DOGE minions, is reportedly planning to put off 1000’s of Inner Income Service brokers. And guess which of them? The tax collectors who work to guarantee that the rich pay their justifiable share.
”My workplace is listening to that DOGE is now on the IRS. Which means Musk’s henchmen are ready to dig via a trove of information about each taxpayer in America. And in case your refund is delayed, they might very effectively be the explanation,” Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon posted on X the day earlier than this announcement.
And never solely is the IRS being downsized, however there are additionally plans to show the division’s brokers into deportation police. Earlier this week, the Wall Road Journal reported that Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem requested the Treasury Division to deputize IRS investigators for this very goal.
The GOP and its billionaire donor overlords have been making an attempt to decimate the IRS for years. Home Republicans like Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Chip Roy of Texas have tried to assault IRS employees with threats of Oversight Committee hearings and the stripping away of civil service protections.
Below the Biden administration’s Inflation Discount Act, the IRS acquired extra money than it had in years. That funding got here with a mandate to modernize programs and to go after the uber-wealthy firms and people who incessantly exploit loopholes, leveraging their sources to get out of paying even essentially the most meager charges.
Final 12 months, the company reported that it had efficiently collected greater than $1 billion from rich tax cheats. In January, because the GOP-led Congress threatened to chop its funding, the IRS introduced that it had introduced in a further $360 million from rich tax dodgers.
In current days, many have questioned how Musk’s Tesla, which has boasted billions in revenue since 2020, paid 0% in taxes in 2024, 1.4% in 2023, and 0% in 2022—but is valued at greater than $1 trillion.
Musk famously moved his houses and Tesla operation from California to Texas, which allowed him to dodge an estimated $2.4 billion in taxes on income he generated for years in California.
