Kevin Hassett, director of the U.S. National Economic Council, told reporters at a White House press briefing Thursday that officials are looking into a large number of worker reductions at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
“I think our objective is to make sure that the employees that we pay are being productive and effective,” Hassett said. “And there are many, many, more than 100,000 people working to collect taxes, and not all of them are fully occupied.”
He responded to a question about reports that thousands of agents are on the chopping block by saying that all options are on the table, as President Donald Trump’s administration seeks to streamline the federal bureaucracy.
“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 [information technology] at the IRS,” Hassett said.
Other agencies are also being scrutinized, with a focus on eliminating underperforming employees and prioritizing a return to the office for all federal staff—some who have been working from home since 2020.
“Nobody is going into the buildings. People aren’t commuting because nobody is doing their job,” Hassett said.
Some, he suggested, are milking the system by working multiple jobs while taking home government paychecks.
“So, the point is, we’re fixing that, and the IRS is a small part of that picture,” Hassett said. “We’re studying every agency and deciding who to let go and why, and we’re doing so very rationally with a lot of support from analysis.”
Under former President Joe Biden’s administration, the tax agency swelled in size to nearly 100,000 employees, an increase of about 20,000 agents.
An April 2023 report from the IRS outlines a plan to use some of the $80 billion provided to the agency by the Inflation Reduction Act to hire tens of thousands of new employees.
“To achieve its organizational goals, the IRS needs a workforce that seeks insights in data and values data-driven decisions, but the agency does not have enough statisticians, economists or researchers to meet all its needs for data and analytics expertise,” the report reads. “We need to increase hiring for these highly skilled positions and to retain those employees once they have been hired.”
During a Las Vegas rally on Jan. 25, the newly inaugurated president said he had halted all hirings within the IRS and was considering sending those hired under Biden’s leadership to assist with national security matters on the nation’s border.
“I think we’re going to move them to the border where they are allowed to carry guns,” Trump said. “You know, they’re so strong on guns, but these people are allowed to carry guns, so we will probably move them to the border.”
He campaigned on a promise to reduce the size of the federal government and cut spending, with a flurry of executive orders announced in the first days of his second presidency aimed at following through on those commitments.
One such action established the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), with Elon Musk as a top adviser to the cost-cutting advisory agency, which aims to slice expenditures by at least $1 trillion.
Trump said the tax agency will be probed by DOGE, as will all other federal agencies.
The IRS did not respond to The Epoch Times’ requests for comment before publication.
Reuters contributed to this report.
From The Epoch Times
