IRS plans to lay off thousands
WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – The Trump administration plans to fire nearly 7,000 probationary IRS employees, out of about 90,000 total employees.
At the press briefing on Thursday, administration officials addressed reports the IRS plans to lay of more than 3,000 employees.
'The Treasury Secretary is studying the matter and feels like 3,500 is a small number, and probably can get bigger, especially as we improve the IT at the IRS' said Director of the National Economic Council Kevin Hassett.
As Americans get ready to file taxes, President Donald Trump's adviser Alina Habba said it will affect people's tax returns, 'in a good way.'
'The reason is very simple. You cannot continue to waste American taxpayer dollars on giving it to the illegal immigrants,' Habba said.
Republicans have also accused IRS employees of targeting conservatives.
'We've never seen a more weaponized federal government,' said Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.). 'It's the IRS, it's the FBI, the CIA.'
Under the Biden administration, the IRS targeted wealthy Americans who failed to pay their taxes. They said, at the time, the increased enforcement recovered more than a $1 billion in unpaid taxes.
'Donald Trump and the Republicans have eviscerated so many of our institutions in order to cater to the whims of billionaires,' said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), the Senate Minority Leader.
Pete Sepp, the President of the National Taxpayers Union said, in general, he supports cuts to the federal workforce.
'Both the federal government workforce and the federal contractor workforce are very large, bloated and inefficient,' Sepp said.
But, he said he worries laying off IRS workers could slow down modernization efforts.
'The IRS has some of the oldest computer systems in the entire federal government. The so-called individual master file, for example, is based on 60-year-old technology,' Sepp said. 'It is incredibly vulnerable to hacking. It's slow. It is not suited for a 21st century tax agency.'
IRS workers were told they could not accept buyout offers extended to federal employees until after tax season.
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