After Decades of Neglect, Federal Tax Authorities Still Need More Resources, Not Budget Cuts and Layoffs

WASHINGTON, DC — The FACT Coalition is gravely concerned by reports of mass layoffs at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) expected to impact as many as 7,000 staff, including thousands of employees specifically working on tax enforcement and collections. The tranche of layoffs that began Thursday threatens to undo recent progress at America’s tax agency, which began a hiring wave in 2022 after losing nearly half of its personnel specializing in complex tax investigations and enforcement cases over the preceding decade.

Ian Gary, FACT executive director, said in a statement:

“A fair, transparent, and well-funded tax system is vital to a functioning democratic society. The FACT Coalition is alarmed by reports of major staffing cuts to the IRS. These cuts are likely to disproportionately affect recent investments and hiring in the tax agency that have greatly improved its capacity to audit wealthy tax cheats and corporations. At the same time, staffing cuts will affect service levels for ordinary Americans during the middle of tax filing season.

“Tax evasion is a crime. Americans need to know that our tax laws will be enforced fairly for rich and poor alike. Rather than creating efficiency, these drastic cuts will invite more tax evasion and rob the U.S. Treasury of vital revenues needed for social investments. Congress should ensure that lawfully appropriated investments in the IRS are protected.”

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Notes to the Editor: 

• Last year, FACT released a policy platform detailing important international tax reform priorities to guide the 2025 tax debate. These priorities included revitalizing funding for the IRS, which lost roughly half of its personnel specializing in complex tax investigations and enforcement cases between 2010 and 2018.
• Read FACT’s full comment to the House Ways and Means Committee’s Republican Tax Team for Global Competitiveness, including recommendations to increase IRS funding, here.
• Last April, FACT policy director Zorka Milin testified before the Senate Budget Committee on the need for increased IRS funding to combat tax avoidance and evasion by wealthy individuals and multinational corporations.