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Stalled Audits and a Skeleton Staff: Inside Trump’s War on the I.R.S.
The New York Times ^ | March 10, 2025 | Andrew Duehren

Posted on 03/10/2025 6:46:30 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum

President Trump is planning to gut the work force while trying to turn the I.R.S. into a more political agency.

Beth Crowell was proud to work for the Internal Revenue Service.

She had spent much of her career as an accountant for large corporations, gaining intimate knowledge about how they do — and sometimes don’t — pay the taxes they owe. Working for the I.R.S. in Colorado, she hoped to put her skills to a new use. She wanted to help collect more money for the federal government.

Not long after joining last July, she had her chance. Ms. Crowell, 64, joined a team that had started an audit of a company earning roughly $3 billion a year. The I.R.S. had never examined the firm before, Ms. Crowell said, because the agency hadn’t had enough employees with the skills for such complex cases. “They’re a large multinational company, and it is not a normal thing to not have been examined,” she said, declining to name the firm.

By hiring Ms. Crowell and thousands of other experienced tax professionals like her last year, the I.R.S. was trying to fill those gaps and rebuild its ability to enforce tax laws after years of decay. The effort was expected to help the United States recoup billions in additional tax revenue.

Then the layoffs started. With Trump administration targeting recent hires across the government, the terminations hit particularly hard in Ms. Crowell’s division, large business and international. Of the more than 7,000 people laid off from the I.R.S. so far, roughly half worked in her department.

As a result, the I.R.S. may struggle even more with its basic mission of collecting taxes. Work-intensive investigations into large businesses and rich Americans could decline, a drop in enforcement that would add to the deficit even as Elon...

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; Politics/Elections
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President Trump is planning to gut the work force while trying to turn the I.R.S. into a more political agency.

That's rich.

1 posted on 03/10/2025 6:46:30 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

What else would you expect from the slimes


2 posted on 03/10/2025 6:48:05 AM PDT by V_TWIN (America...so great even the people that hate it refuse to leave!)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Yeah, it certainly wasn’t political enough when it went after conservative groups nor when it leaked the confidential returns of various adversaries of the deep state or of the democrat machine.


3 posted on 03/10/2025 6:49:41 AM PDT by coloradan (They're not the mainstream media, they're the gaslight media. It's what they do. )
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
I think the slimes writer left a letter out, I believe the word he should have used is apolitical.
4 posted on 03/10/2025 6:50:32 AM PDT by Mastador1
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

I don’t think all the IRS agents are altruistic. I believe many of them suffer from being bullied as kids and see the IRS as a way to get back.


5 posted on 03/10/2025 6:53:56 AM PDT by Raycpa
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

If the woman outlined in the story was any good at corporate accounting, she would have never gone to the IRS. I know a bunch of corporate accountants, auditors, and comptrollers—and none of them would want to work for the government. There is no joy there…and certainly, they were making more money.

The IRS has a role. They need to get back to it.


6 posted on 03/10/2025 6:54:28 AM PDT by Vermont Lt
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

The New York Slimes continues to propagate slime ... what a surprise


7 posted on 03/10/2025 6:55:03 AM PDT by antidemoncrat ( )
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

“ while trying to turn the I.R.S. into a more political agency.“

That’s a good one too.


8 posted on 03/10/2025 6:57:56 AM PDT by iamgalt
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

They told us the additional 87,000 agents were needed to go after the billionairs.Now whom amount us believed that?


9 posted on 03/10/2025 7:00:13 AM PDT by HANG THE EXPENSE (Life's tough.It's tougher when you're stupid.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

lol


10 posted on 03/10/2025 7:02:10 AM PDT by dp0622 (Tried a coup, a fake tax story, tramp slander, Russia nonsense, impeachment and a virus. They lost.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

We’re still waiting for our refund.

We’re happy to wait.

MAGA is worth it.


11 posted on 03/10/2025 7:02:40 AM PDT by mewzilla (Swing away, Mr. President, swing away!)
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To: Vermont Lt

yeah they get paid a fortune in the private sector.

Why go to govt?


12 posted on 03/10/2025 7:03:45 AM PDT by dp0622 (Tried a coup, a fake tax story, tramp slander, Russia nonsense, impeachment and a virus. They lost.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Accounting is following the rules. AI should be able to do most audits


13 posted on 03/10/2025 7:07:52 AM PDT by FatherofFive (we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor)
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To: Vermont Lt

“There is no joy there”

In accounting? LOL


14 posted on 03/10/2025 7:07:57 AM PDT by alternatives?
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To: FatherofFive

Excellent point.

AI is ideal for figuring out complex systems with defined rules.


15 posted on 03/10/2025 7:12:46 AM PDT by cgbg (The Democrat Party is a criminal enterprise.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
while trying to turn the I.R.S. into a more political agency.

Someone call Lois Lerner.

16 posted on 03/10/2025 7:19:56 AM PDT by Opinionated Blowhard (When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.)
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To: mewzilla

If you apply it to the new year, you make this year easier and you don’t have to wait on a refund.


17 posted on 03/10/2025 7:24:52 AM PDT by pgyanke (Republicans get in trouble when not living up to their principles. Democrats... when they do.)
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To: Vermont Lt

Short of eliminating W-2 income taxes it should take a postcard to do them.


18 posted on 03/10/2025 7:26:19 AM PDT by Resolute Conservative
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To: Raycpa
I don’t think all the IRS agents are altruistic. I believe many of them suffer from being bullied as kids and see the IRS as a way to get back.

I know a person who went to work there because he saw it as a securge job where those who hated him and got him fired because of his consevative views coouldn't touch him. His mistake was not realizing he couldn't hide his conservative views long enough to pass probation working around people even worse than public school people.

They figured out he was conservative and fired him over a petty disagreement 3 days before probation was over. He doesn't like them very much. So, yeah, you're pretty much correct. Cornered animals are very dangeroys.

19 posted on 03/10/2025 7:32:16 AM PDT by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin (Freedom is the freedom to discipline yourself so others don't have to do it for you.)
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To: FatherofFive
Accounting is following the rules. AI should be able to do most audit

Accounting is as much an art as it is a science. The "rules" are filled with judgement calls. AI can help but it will not replace the ultimate judgement of accountants when preparing reports for the public or the IRS.

On the income tax front, I use it to get to quick answers and cut down my research time. However, it still brings me wrong answers and is not reliable enough to keep me from using it to find the reliable source documents.

20 posted on 03/10/2025 7:35:08 AM PDT by Raycpa
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