Billy Long's IRS ouster follows clashes with Treasury
Multiple sources familiar with the matter told The Hill that leadership at the Treasury Department clashed with Long and that there were concerns within the administration that he was not a good fit to lead an agency that prides itself on implementing tax policy without getting caught up in partisan drama.
But his exit also means the IRS will have its seventh commissioner of the calendar year, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent taking over on an interim basis.
'I think they're going through turbulence right now,' one source familiar with the matter told The Hill. 'People just don't know yet what the future holds.'
Long was a controversial choice to lead the IRS, which is a technocratic agency responsible for collecting tax revenue and enforcing the nation's tax laws. A former Republican congressman from Missouri, Long previously worked as an auctioneer and a real estate broker. He drew scrutiny over his promotion of a pandemic-era tax credit that was riddled with fraudulent claims.
The former congressman lasted less than two months on the job after being confirmed in June in a party-line Senate vote.
Sources told The Hill that there was growing frustration among Treasury officials with IRS leadership since Long's arrival as commissioner. One source familiar with the matter said Long had gone off script and made remarks that required clarifications or cleaning up, something viewed as a particular issue on an issue as sensitive as taxes.
One incident in particular was viewed as the final straw when Long last month said at a conference that tax filing season would start in February next year, a change from the typical starting point of January.
In a social media post minutes after he announced his departure from the IRS, Long wrote that tax filing season 'will start at the customary time around MLK Day.'
'These folks are pros and know what they are doing,' Long added of top Treasury officials.
One source told The Hill that senior Treasury officials felt Long's tenure was 'an impossible situation' that needed to be resolved.
The Washington Post reported that there was another reason for Long's shift to an ambassadorship: That the IRS had clashed with the White House over a push to use private tax data to track down undocumented immigrants.
'I think the president wants to see Billy Long as the ambassador to Iceland. As you know, that's where he will be headed,' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in response to a question from The Hill during Tuesday's press briefing. 'And the president loves Billy Long, and he thinks that he can serve the administration well in this position.'
A Treasury spokesperson praised Long's 'zeal and enthusiasm to bring a fresh perspective to the Federal Government.' The spokesperson said a new candidate for IRS commissioner will be announced 'at the appropriate time.'
Trump is expected to announce his choice to replace Long sooner rather than later. Bessent is already deeply involved in macro-economic issues and has been Trump's point person on trade talks, making it difficult for him to also oversee the IRS even on an interim basis.
The next IRS commissioner will also be tasked with overseeing the first tax season since passage of the massive reconciliation bill. The legislation extended the 2017 tax cuts and enacted changes to the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction, the child tax credit, taxes on tipped wages and taxes on overtime wages and various other smaller alterations.
'You want stability of leadership,' one source told The Hill. 'That creates an atmosphere and environment for the organization to get its job done, to reduce mistakes and to meet its mission.'
The change atop the IRS comes at a time when Democrats are sounding alarms about Trump's decision to push out Erika McEntarfer as commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and replace her with a conservative economist.
The move came after the jobs report released in early August showed lower-than-expected hiring in July and major downward revisions to the jobs reports from May and June.
While Trump and his allies argued the change would improve transparency and accuracy, critics noted McEntarfer had little to do with what the numbers showed. Economists and lawmakers also expressed concern that it would erode credibility and confidence in government data, hurting businesses and consumers in the process.
'In just a handful of months, Trump and his crew have already gutted taxpayer service, weaponized IRS data against innocent taxpayers and set us up for disaster when next year's filing season comes around,' Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, said in a statement. 'This is what Trump does — pick incompetent, unserious people for serious jobs, and sit back as the damage piles up.'
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'It's a really sad day for communities in need of energy affordability,' Abdul-Rahman said. Black Sun Light hired staff members to help with the statewide program before federal dollars were taken off the table. They were tasked with researching resiliency hubs and were working with groups like the United Methodist Women on identifying project locations in Indiana. The hubs would have provided communities with relief during power outages and given people with medical needs such as oxygen machines and refrigerated insulin the electricity they need, Abdul-Rahman said. The City of Indianapolis was involved with both the statewide program and the wider Heartland program. Mo McReynolds, director of Indy's Office of Sustainability, said some of the federal money was going toward a 5-megawatt solar array on city property. The grant would have supported the feasibility study for that project, which would have brought rates down to help households with high energy costs. The city was also using Solar for All funds to implement individual projects on single- and multi-family homes. Indy residents benefitting from the program would have seen around a 20% reduction of their energy burden, McReynolds said. Joe Bowling, executive director with the Englewood Community Development Corporation, had sent a letter of support for Indiana winning these awards to Schalk at Solar United Neighbors. Bowling and the CDC have an affordable housing program on Indy's near east side that manages about 400 homes. "I believe we need to do all we can to create a lot more energy," Bowling said, "and if we can do that on rooftops at the point of consumption with renewables that do not pollute the air or warm the environment, that seems like a good thing." The large upswing of data centers coming to Indiana is creating an increasingly large demand for energy in Indiana, and Bowling said closing off opportunities to create more energy is a bad idea. Bowling also noted many Hoosiers are already feeling a financial squeeze by utilities as rates increase, and residents living on fixed Social Security incomes are going to have an increasingly difficult time keeping up with rent and rising electricity prices. "Solar for all was going to benefit low-income grandmas living on very little income," Bowling said. "That's whose interests we would live to see served." Schalk and Solar United Neighbors were providing technical support for the statewide program. The loss of money is a loss to struggling families as they face electric bills going up, Schalk said. A recent report from Citizens Action Coalition shows Indiana saw, on average, the largest utility bill increases this past year since at least 2005. Shannon Anderson, director of advocacy at Earth Charter Indiana, also had been working on getting this money to Indiana communities since the program began in 2023. She and other Indiana groups are wondering where they might find other types of funding, but nothing will match the federal dollars that were pulled away. 'My biggest heartbreak is that so many of us worked so long to come to a place where we cleared all kinds of hurdles and promised to use this money in a way that we feel is not just most accountable to the EPA and to taxpayers, but to our own consciousness,' Anderson said. Solar for All would have provided benefits to historically underserved neighborhoods, Anderson said, and those communities are already dealing with the some of the state's worst air quality. 'It would be wonderful to see new programs come into Indiana in the wake of this,' Anderson said. "People who often experience legacy pollution are really served beyond just financial saving with the environmental benefits of solar energy.' While Zeldin's announcement left Anderson bereft, she is not ready to give up and encourages Hoosiers to reach out to their federal representatives. 'As summers get hotter, people who might have to make financial decision to turn off their AC and that could be difference between life and death for them,' Anderson said. 'I can't underscore how important programs like this could be in that equation.' IndyStar's environmental reporting project is made possible through the generous support of the nonprofit Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust.
