Scoop: Democrats challenge Bessent's victory lap on IRS tax revenue
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is leading a Democratic effort to challenge Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on the victory he claimed last week on increasing tax revenue in April and May.
Why it matters: Democrats argue widespread cuts at the IRS will only hurt tax revenue and contradict Bessent's commitment to reduce the federal deficit.
Bessent has claimed that cutting costs and trimming staff haven't lowered tax collection.
Warren scoffs at that and insists those reductions are penny-wise and pound-foolish.
Driving the news: In a letter to Bessent and IRS Commissioner Billy Long, Warren led Democrats in warning that staff cuts at the IRS will only plunge revenue in the coming years.
"Further cutting IRS staff means less staff to monitor wealthy tax cheats and collect the tax revenue that will help offset our budget deficit," Warren writes, along with Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va). Angus King (I-Maine) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), in a letter obtained by Axios.
The big picture: A centerpiece of Bessent's economic agenda was cutting the federal budget to 3% of GDP. The Democrats argue the cuts to the IRS and the GOP's mega tax cut bill directly contradict that goal.
The House-passed version of Trump's "big, beautiful bill" would add around $2.5 trillion to the deficit over the next decade, according to an estimate by the Congressional Budget Office.
A March estimate by Yale University also concluded the IRS could miss out on as much as $2.4 trillion in revenue if the department's workforce is cut in half.
Zoom in: The Democrats are demanding to know how Trump officials plan to slash IRS staff while keeping tax revenue steady.
"Given the proven return on investment from increasing staffing levels at the IRS, how did the Administration determine that a 40 percent across-the-board cut in the IRS workforce was prudent?"
"These actions are inconsistent with your public commitments to meaningfully reduce the federal deficit and will undo the improvements made to the IRS's taxpayer services," they write.
Warren is the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee.
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