The IRS is on its seventh commissioner of the year, has lost one-quarter of its staff and is faced with implementing a raft of new regulations. Whether and how this turmoil could affect Americans remains to be seen.
But the first impacts are likely to be lower tax collections and a harder time getting answers to tax-related questions, according to a former commissioner and a policy analyst.
“You can be fairly confident of the direction of the impact, that having this level of instability is not good for IRS’ core functions and for taxpayer service," said Alex Muresianu, Senior Policy Analyst at the Tax Foundation, a tax policy think tank. “This level of instability coinciding with the implementation of a new set of tax laws ‒ that is a dangerous mix."
The IRS got its seventh leader of the year Aug. 8 when President Donald Trump tapped Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as its temporary head, after removing Commissioner Billy Long.
Trump ousted Long after 53 days on the job, giving him the shortest tenure of any Senate-approved IRS Commissioner.
