Federal Layoffs Continue as IRS Announces 6,000 Job Cuts
Headlines
- IRS Announces 6,000 Job Cuts Amid Tax Filing Season
- Trump Administration’s Downsizing Effort Continues with Mass Layoffs
- Labor Unions Sue to Stop Mass Firings, Federal Judge Rules in Favor of Trump Administration
The Layoffs
A tearful executive at the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) told staffers on Thursday that about 6,000 employees would be fired, a person familiar with the matter said, in a move that would eliminate roughly 6% of the agency’s workforce in the midst of the busy tax-filing season.
The cuts are part of President Donald Trump’s sweeping downsizing effort that has targeted bank regulators, forest workers, rocket scientists, and tens of thousands of other government employees. The effort is being led by tech billionaire Elon Musk, Trump’s biggest campaign donor.
The Impact
The layoffs are expected to total 6,700, according to a person familiar with the matter, and largely target workers at the agency hired as part of an expansion under Democratic President Joe Biden, who had sought to expand enforcement efforts on wealthy taxpayers. Republicans have opposed the expansion, arguing that it would lead to harassment of ordinary Americans.
The tax agency now employs roughly 100,000 people, compared with 80,000 before Biden took office in 2021. Independent budget analysts had estimated that the staff expansion under Biden would work to boost government revenue and help narrow trillion-dollar budget deficits.
Reaction from Experts
"This will ensure that the IRS is not going after the wealthy and is only an agency that’s really focused on the low income," said University of Pittsburgh tax law professor, Philip Hackney, a former IRS lawyer. "It’s a travesty."
Other Agencies Affected
The Trump administration’s federal layoffs have focused on workers across the government who are new to their positions and have fewer protections than longer-tenured employees. The IRS has taken a more careful approach to downsizing than other agencies, given that it is in the middle of the tax-filing season.
The agency expects to process more than 140 million individual returns by the April 15 filing deadline and will retain several thousand workers deemed critical for that task, one source said.
Layoffs Across the Country
The layoffs will impact employees across all 50 states, with employees in the Kansas City office reportedly receiving their dismissal notices via email after all other functions on their computers were disabled.
Conclusion
The mass layoffs at the IRS are just the latest in a series of downsizing efforts by the Trump administration, which has also targeted bank regulators, forest workers, and rocket scientists. While some have praised the move as a way to cut government waste, others have criticized the effort as a threat to the middle class and the services they rely on.
FAQs
Q: How many employees will be laid off at the IRS?
A: About 6,000 employees will be laid off, representing roughly 6% of the agency’s workforce.
Q: Why is the IRS being targeted for layoffs?
A: The IRS is being targeted as part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to cut government spending and reduce the size of the federal workforce.
Q: How will the layoffs affect the tax-filing season?
A: The IRS has taken a more careful approach to downsizing than other agencies, given that it is in the middle of the tax-filing season. The agency expects to process more than 140 million individual returns by the April 15 filing deadline and will retain several thousand workers deemed critical for that task.