Well, folks, it looks like the IRS is about to get a serious reality check. According to sources speaking with the Associated Press, the agency is preparing to lay off thousands of probationary workers—just as Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) ramps up its mission to cut bureaucratic waste. And if you think this is just a coincidence, think again.
This move comes hot on the heels of a key meeting between senior IRS officials and Gavin Kliger, a leading figure in Musk’s government efficiency initiative. Kliger’s visit to the IRS headquarters in Washington, D.C., marked a major milestone—because it’s the first time a member of Musk’s DOGE team has stepped foot in the agency since Trump’s second term began. And let’s be clear: Musk’s team isn’t there for a friendly chat. They’re there to shake things up.
While the exact number of layoffs remains unclear, the scale is expected to be significant. This is all part of Trump’s long-standing promise to slash the bloated IRS workforce and roll back the $80 billion cash infusion that Democrats handed the agency in 2023. That funding, of course, was meant to expand the IRS—hiring some 80,000 new workers under Biden’s administration. Republicans, however, have made it clear that this expansion was a disaster waiting to happen, and they’ve been working aggressively to defund and dismantle those additions ever since.
And now, it’s happening.
According to an internal email, the General Services Administration (GSA), which oversees most government contracts, has officially ordered the IRS to review every single contract under its control to determine whether it’s actually necessary. The criteria? If a contract’s sole purpose is to generate reports, research, coaching, or other non-essential “artifacts,” it’s on the chopping block. That’s right—Trump’s administration is officially putting an end to pointless consulting contracts that serve little more than to bloat the federal budget.
The directive from GSA is clear: this is part of a government-wide initiative to eliminate waste, reduce spending, and increase efficiency. And if you’re one of the many Americans who have long suspected that the IRS is bloated beyond belief, well, here’s your proof.
House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-MO) is leading the charge to completely overhaul the agency, citing years of politically motivated behavior and outright weaponization of its power. Smith recently sent a letter to acting IRS Commissioner Douglas O’Donnell demanding accountability and calling for serious reforms to “rebuild trust” with the American people.
And let’s not forget: the IRS’s reputation took a nosedive in recent years, especially after reports surfaced about politically targeted audits, missing files, and growing inefficiencies in basic taxpayer services. Smith put it bluntly: “The story of the last two years at the IRS is one of both failure and outright weaponization… There are too many examples of problems at the IRS to count.”
At the heart of this overhaul is a fundamental question: who does the IRS serve? Under Biden, it seemed more focused on auditing middle-class families while letting billion-dollar bureaucracies expand unchecked. But under Trump, the message is clear—the IRS isn’t above accountability, and its era of unchecked growth is over.
