The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will eliminate 45,000 of its employees, cutting overall half of its workforce of roughly 90,000.
This news comes from anonymous sources who gave information on the layoffs to the Associated Press.
The employees will be removed through “layoffs, attrition and incentivized buyouts” according to the sources. Laid-off employees may be reallocated by President Donald Trump to the Department of Homeland Security.
According to Economic Policy Institute, in early February DHS Secretary Kristi Noem sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent requesting IRS criminal investigators to help with immigration enforcement and deportation efforts.
A federal HR email was sent at the behest of Elon Musk asking employees to respond with five tasks accomplished the prior week. This email is considered a measure to gauge what work is being done by employees and whether their employment is worth retaining.
Going back to Trump’s presidential campaign, cutting the federal administrative state significantly has been an important agenda for the administration. The administration also plans to cut over 80,000 Veterans Affairs employees over the year. During the Biden administration, 61,000 new employees were hired.
On his first day in office, the President announced a hiring freeze of federal civilian employees. Over a month into his current term, 7,000 probationary employees with the IRS have been laid off.
