Trump has eliminated 26,000 positions! Hopefully he has a hiring freeze his entire tenure and we end up with 77k or fewer!

Quote:

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When they are gone, the IRS workforce will drop to 77,000, down from 103,000 in January.

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Check out what Biden did, a 32% increase! He's the reason for the massive bloat:

Quote:

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For most of the 2010s, Republicans were winning that fight. Congress cut the IRS workforce from about 98,000 in 2012 to 78,000 in 2019.

After the 2020 elections, Democrats took full control of Congress. Mr. Biden's 2022 budget-climate law pumped tens of billions of dollars into the IRS to hire examiners, agents and support staff, increasing the workforce to 103,000.

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https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/jul/22/trump-slashed-25-irs-workforce/

If Trump keeps drifting towards a consumption based revenue stream away from income based, maybe we can get rid of another big chunk at the IRS

American Hardwood said:

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If Trump keeps drifting towards a consumption based revenue stream away from income based, maybe we can get rid of another big chunk at the IRS

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Under-rated.

Loosened up things on income taxes, generally. Most importantly, By passing the BBB he stopped the large increases that rmany liberals would have liked.

Only place he did anything big against middle class (+) on icome taxes was elmination of backdoor roth mass conversions. But that was pretty generous, perhaps too generous.

Instead, we are getting a new, helpful, tax stream from tariffs. I am not a general fan of increased tariffs nor elmination of deminimus exception, BUT the one good thing about them is that everyone chips in on tariffs.

Way too many people don't pay ANYTHING in (net), we should ALL financially contribute to the government.

Yeah, I know, "contribute" is quite a euphemism.

How about 25% reduction to my tax liability to match?

Over_ed said:

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American Hardwood said:

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If Trump keeps drifting towards a consumption based revenue stream away from income based, maybe we can get rid of another big chunk at the IRS

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Under-rated.

Loosened up things on income taxes, generally. Most importantly, By passing the BBB he stopped the large increases that rmany liberals would have liked.

Only place he did anything big against middle class (+) on icome taxes was elmination of backdoor roth mass conversions. But that was pretty generous, perhaps too generous.

Instead, we are getting a new, helpful, tax stream from tariffs. I am not a general fan of increased tariffs nor elmination of deminimus exception, BUT the one good thing about them is that everyone chips in on tariffs.

Way too many people don't pay ANYTHING in (net), we should ALL financially contribute to the government.

Yeah, I know, "contribute" is quite a euphemism.

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Yeah well I contribute too much as it is.

If he would reduce my payment to the IRS by 25% I'd be happier!

I'm sure a certain single issue voter will be pleased with this continued spending cut

While I'm always happy to see anything the govt does get reduced, this doesn't address the elephant in the room. The real problem is that the tax code needs to be majorly simplified. That should have been the first step in the process. Instead we get more complexity with the no tax on tips or overtime, etc. Not one single thing has been simplified.

It's obvious the whole DOGE platform will not accomplish anything meaningful. And my guess is the quote about nothing is more permanent than a temporary govt program will hold true with this one. Democrats have never met a government program, agency, job or really anything govt that they don't like. So it will be interesting to see how they manage to turn DOGE into yet another destructive alphabet agency once they get back into power.

The US tax codes need a 100% overhaul.

Draw a line in the sand and start new.

It's a good start!

Helicopter Ben said:

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While I'm always happy to see anything the govt does get reduced, this doesn't address the elephant in the room. The real problem is that the tax code needs to be majorly simplified. That should have been the first step in the process. Instead we get more complexity with the no tax on tips or overtime, etc. Not one single thing has been simplified.

It's obvious the whole DOGE platform will not accomplish anything meaningful. And my guess is the quote about nothing is more permanent than a temporary govt program will hold true with this one. Democrats have never met a government program, agency, job or really anything govt that they don't like. So it will be interesting to see how they manage to turn DOGE into yet another destructive alphabet agency once they get back into power.

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Doge has done a lot of good and exposed some massive gov't corruption that even the most ardent conservative was clueless about.

ts5641 said:

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Doge has done a lot of good and exposed some massive gov't corruption that even the most ardent conservative was clueless about.

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When corruption has become this widespread and entrenched, it's not all that impressive to expose some of it. Hell, they've become so emboldened by the lack of repercussions that a lot of it is operating blatantly out in the open. The real issue is what's being done about it? Well it turns out not all that much. Trump is going in with the scalpel when a flamethrower was needed.

Call me cynical, but I'm almost entirely certain that we will not get any of the desperately needed reforms done before an even more radical leftist gets into power. I read something like 65% of ages 18-29 have a favorable view of socialism. It appears we're going to have to "give it a try" before we even consider returning to liberty, laissez faire, and limited govt. The trump admin is turning out to be exactly as I expected… Just a slight tap on the breaks as we plummet towards the cliff.

How many are they withholding?

NEW: Trump Administration has ordered IRS to bolster staff & cancel layoffs, reversing on earlier pledge to block hiring of 87k additional agents.

— Dominic Michael Tripi (@DMichaelTripi) August 24, 2025

https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2025/08/irs-canceling-its-layoff-plans-will-ask-some-it-fired-or-pushed-out-return/407620/

I'm sure this will benefit the middle class? Lolz this will only burden the middle class.

They're just having trouble covering mission-critical stuff. Don't want any delays processing returns and issuing refunds.

From the article:

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While the Trump administration has successfully ushered around 150,000 employees out of government since January, IRS is just the latest example of an agency seeking to unwind some of that work. The departments of Health and Human Services and Labor have also rescinded layoffs to fill staffing needs, while the Agriculture Department, Justice Department, Social Security Administration and other agencies have similarly moved employees around to ensure continuity of critical functions.

All this is happening as the tax agency continues to see leadership shakeups.

Three senior IRS executives were ousted late last week, according to the The Washington Post, including the director for online services, and the head of the agency left earlier this month after only two months in the job. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is leading the IRS on an acting basis, the sixth person over the tax agency since Trump took office.

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MORE DAMMIT

That's REALLY, REALLY bad Trump.

That is the single biggest head count reduction I wanted to see, bar none.

Not surprised - taxes just get piled on and the populace cheers the pennies that get sent back.

Maybe they need an army to chase down all of that USAID theft and fraud? Or all the Act Blue money laundering?

Gutting the IRS accomplishes exactly nothing. Barring a massive simplification of the tax code, or better yet the elimination of the 16th Amendment, someone has to enforce the laws on the books. Of all the cuts to government payroll this is the one I care about least simply because it's for show but will not impact our lives in any meaningful way.

Helicopter Ben said:

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While I'm always happy to see anything the govt does get reduced, this doesn't address the elephant in the room. The real problem is that the tax code needs to be majorly simplified. That should have been the first step in the process. Instead we get more complexity with the no tax on tips or overtime, etc. Not one single thing has been simplified.

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Exactly. And the "no tax on tips or overtime" is an example of more complexity. And it really isn't "no tax on tips or overtime." Rather than make that the law, both are subject to limitations and phase-outs, some folks qualify, some won't, some only partially.

LOYAL AG said:

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Gutting the IRS accomplishes exactly nothing. Barring a massive simplification of the tax code, or better yet the elimination of the 16th Amendment, someone has to enforce the laws on the books. Of all the cuts to government payroll this is the one I care about least simply because it's for show but will not impact our lives in any meaningful way.

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Yeah but how is restoring the size of the irs to levels of 2019 characterized as "gutting". Hyperbole

AggieMD95 said:

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LOYAL AG said:

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Gutting the IRS accomplishes exactly nothing. Barring a massive simplification of the tax code, or better yet the elimination of the 16th Amendment, someone has to enforce the laws on the books. Of all the cuts to government payroll this is the one I care about least simply because it's for show but will not impact our lives in any meaningful way.

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Yeah but how is restoring the size of the irs to levels of 2019 characterized as "gutting". Hyperbole

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Still a meaningless gesture. I don't care what the staffing level is unless you want to return to 1912 levels. People get all worked up about "abolishing the IRS" but there's no way it happens until we gut the tax code. We have laws and they have to be enforced. The size of the agency tasked with doing so isn't relevant to me. This talking point doesn't address the real issue with regard to how the government generates revenue. That's the only point I'm trying to make.

AggieMD95 said:

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LOYAL AG said:

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Gutting the IRS accomplishes exactly nothing. Barring a massive simplification of the tax code, or better yet the elimination of the 16th Amendment, someone has to enforce the laws on the books. Of all the cuts to government payroll this is the one I care about least simply because it's for show but will not impact our lives in any meaningful way.

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Yeah but how is restoring the size of the irs to levels of 2019 characterized as "gutting". Hyperbole

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A lot depends on where the cuts in personnel are made. If it is to the call in center for issues, that is a mistake. I had to wait over 4 hours on hold to talk to an agent regarding a notice I received back in 2021. That did get better over the last few years although it is still over an hour most of the time.

Same thing with the agents that process mailed in returns because it is shocking how long it takes them to process those returns and get refund checks out.

If it to reduce agents that are doing audits, that is another thing.