DOGE's cuts may encourage tax cheats

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“More and more cheating”: DOGE's cuts to the IRS may have a big price tag
New IRS numbers show fewer people are filing their taxes after DOGE took an ax to the agency's workforce
By Russell Payne
Staff Reporter
Published April 20, 2025 5:30AM (EDT)


(Salon) With tax day come and gone, the Internal Revenue Service is on track to collect less revenue this year than last. Former IRS employees blame cuts by billionaire Elon Musk and Republicans for the decline in revenue, which stands to expand the federal deficit ahead of a debt ceiling deadline this summer.

New weekly filing data from the IRS, released Friday, shows that the agency has received 1.7% fewer total tax returns compared to the same time period last year. The IRS notes a few reasons why the agency might be seeing fewer filings this year, including that multiple states are in a state of emergency and have had the tax deadline for their residents moved to May; other people may have filed for an extension as well.

However, a former IRS employee and the president of the National Treasury Employees Union, Doreen Greenwald, told Salon that, in her view, the reduction in filings and income is largely due to the dramatic cuts to the agency pursued by Musk and President Donald Trump.

“What we've seen is DOGE going to federal agencies across the board, them removing federal employees — federal employees who are trained and skilled in the work that they do to deliver for programs for the American people, they think,” Greenwald said. “Federal employees are an efficient way of doing business. So when you invest in a federal employee, let's say you invest $1 on average, the return is $8 back. If you invest in an auditor that does the complex audits, you see $12 back.” ................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2025/04/20/more-and-more-cheating-doges-cuts-to-the-irs-may-have-a-big-price-tag/

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