An IRS executive, visibly emotional on Thursday, announced that nearly 6,000 workers will be dismissed amid sweeping federal cuts. The layoffs, part of a Trump administration downsizing effort spearheaded by tech donor Elon Musk, occur during the busy tax season, igniting fierce union protests and nationwide unrest.
According to a source familiar with the situation, a distraught IRS executive informed employees on Thursday that approximately 6,000 people will be let go, resulting in the loss of nearly 6% of the agency’s workforce during the peak tax-filing season.
Bank regulators, foresters, rocket scientists, and tens of thousands of other federal personnel have all been hit hard by President Trump’s massive reduction effort, which includes these layoffs. Elon Musk, the richest techy and Trump’s largest campaign contributor is spearheading the initiative.
While speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, Musk was presented with a chainsaw by Argentine President Javier Milei, who was famous for using it to demonstrate his extreme spending cuts measures.
Musk proclaimed, “This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy,” while raising the power tool as a prop to represent the severe reduction in government employment.
A federal judge in Washington ruled on Thursday that the mass firings can continue for the time being, despite union efforts to halt them. Tens of thousands of federal workers have been informed they no longer have a job under this policy.
During a phone call with employees, IRS director of talent acquisition Christy Armstrong broke down in tears as she announced the layoffs of approximately 6,000 coworkers and urged them to stand by one another, according to an employee who was there.
The employee recounted, “She was pretty emotional.”.
A source close to the situation said that 6,700 people would be let go from the agency. This expansion was led by Democratic President Joe Biden, who wanted to crack down harder on rich taxpayers, and the layoffs will mostly affect those employees. The extension has faced opposition from Republicans who believe it would result in the harassment of regular citizens.
Roughly 100,000 individuals are currently employed by the tax agency, up from 80,000 prior to Biden’s inauguration in 2021.
Government revenue would be increased, and deficits of a trillion dollars could be reduced, according to independent budget specialists who predicted that Biden’s staff expansion would be successful.
According to Philip Hackney, a tax law professor at the University of Pittsburgh and a former IRS lawyer, this will make sure that the IRS isn’t targeting the rich and instead focuses on the poor. It is extremely wrong.
Those who have lost their jobs include information technology professionals, tax appeals specialists, customer service representatives, and revenue agents from all 50 states, according to sources. In response to a request for comment, the IRS remained silent.
It is currently tax filing season, thus the IRS has been more cautious than other agencies in their downsizing efforts. According to one source, the government plans to keep a number of thousand staff who are essential for processing over 140 million individual reports by the filing deadline of April 15.
Federal employees with less experience and less benefits have been the primary targets of the Trump administration’s hiring freeze.
According to Thursday’s Washington Post report, the Trump administration is also getting ready to merge the once-independent US Postal Service into the Commerce Department, which would mean dissolving the USPS leadership.
According to Shannon Ellis, a local union leader, probationary employees at the IRS office in Kansas City discovered that their computers had been blocked save for email, which was used to send them notifications of termination.
According to Ellis’s interview with Reuters, the American people should know that the IRS collects taxes that pay for a lot of services that we take for granted.
The White House has been mum on the subject of mass layoffs and the exact number of the 2.3 million federal employees it intends to dismiss. Last week, a buyout offer was accepted by almost 75,000 people.
Republicans are ecstatic about the campaign’s plans to purge a federal workforce that they see as corrupt, overly bureaucratic, and not devoted enough to Trump. The campaign also targets government agencies that regulate large businesses, such as SpaceX, Tesla, Neuralink, and Musk’s own enterprises.
The Post reported on Thursday that the small unit inside the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration responsible for regulating the type of driverless cars that Musk claims will be Tesla’s future is losing nearly half of its workers.
A team from Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has also canceled contracts totaling approximately $8.5 billion that were associated with diversity training, international aid, and other programs that Trump opposes.
Although Trump has stated that he will not affect popular benefit programs—which account for almost one-third of the total—both men have committed to slashing at least $1 trillion from the $6.7 trillion federal budget.
Some Democrats feel that Trump is abusing his power by cutting funding for vital government services that many middle-class people rely on.
In a survey published on Thursday by Reuters/Ipsos, the majority of Americans are concerned that government services could be negatively impacted by the proposed budget cuts.
Since assuming office one month ago, Trump has issued a flurry of commands, and some departments have found it difficult to comply. U.S. nuclear weapons inspectors were sacked and subsequently recalled, and Trump’s embargo on outside assistance has left food and medication exports stuck in storage.
Luis Gochoco is a seasoned managing editor and writer with over a decade of experience covering politics, technology, gaming, and entertainment news. With a keen eye for breaking stories and in-depth analysis, he has established himself as a trusted voice in digital journalism. Luis is one of the key forces behind the success of GameNGuide, contributing to 12 million views through engaging and high-traffic content. He also played a pivotal role in generating 8 million views on International Business Times, shaping the platform’s technology and gaming coverage.
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