Former IRS Commissioner Billy Long has been sent packing after a significant disagreement with the White House over using tax data to locate and apprehend illegal aliens. When the Department of Homeland Security sent a list of 40,000 suspected illegal aliens to the IRS, only 3% of the names were verified.
For context, Long refused to share any information beyond what was required by certain agreements between the two agencies. Recently, a memo from President Trump has dramatically increased the ability of ICE to request sensitive information. Now that Long has been let go, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will temporarily lead the IRS.
In any case, the Washington Post, as quoted by Breitbart, said that the DHS forwarded over 40,000 names to the IRS that “DHS officials thought were” in the U.S. illegally. They asked the IRS to “use confidential taxpayer data to verify their addresses,” however, the same agency stated that “it was able to verify fewer than 3 percent of the names immigration enforcement officials submitted.”
This situation has created significant tensions between the White House and the IRS, culminating in the firing of Billy Long. According to the same source, the Former IRS Commissioner “previously told agency executives that his agency would not furnish confidential taxpayer information outside of the confines of the IRS’s agreement with DHS.”
In a public statement reacting to the firing, Treasury spokesperson wrote, “Thanks, Commissioner Long, for his commitment to public service and the American people. His zeal and enthusiasm to bring a fresh perspective to the Federal Government was evident in both the House of Representatives and as part of the Trump Administration.” Answering more questions, the spokesperson added, “A new candidate for Commissioner will be announced at the appropriate time.”
As we previously reported, the Trump Administration has slashed the IRS workforce by a whopping 25% in the first 6 months of the administration, reversing a Biden-era decision to increase funding by $80 billion. During his campaign, Trump repeatedly promised to defang the highly unpopular agency.
Explaining the situation, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration explained the move and related it to Trump’s campaign promises. The statement revealed, “As part of its efforts to reduce the size of the federal government’s workforce, the IRS offered deferred resignation programs (DRP).”
"*" indicates required fields
Offering more detail, the official stated, “These programs allowed federal employees to resign with pay through September 30, 2025, or later, if the employee’s retirement date was between October 1 and December 31, 2025. The IRS also offered Voluntary Early Retirement Authority (VERA) and Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment (VSIP) to encourage employees to leave federal service.”
Promising that these cuts are only the beginning, and that the IRS will continue to face dramatic budget reasessment, the statement added, “Additionally, in April 2025, the IRS began Reduction in Force (RIF) actions to further reduce its workforce.”
While the majority of Americans despise the IRS, some sources, such as The National Taxpayer Advocate, disagreed. The outlet argued, “to deliver a successful filing season, the IRS needs a sufficient number of trained employees to program its processing systems, develop and disseminate timely and clear guidance on tax law changes, answer telephone calls and process correspondence, among other things.”