The Internal Revenue Service ignited controversy this week as it terminated over 6,000 employees nationwide – a move former staffers call disastrously counterproductive to the agency’s modernization goals. Among those dismissed was a data analytics specialist who told ABC News:
I was brought in to make the IRS more efficient through automation. Cutting technical teams during tax season guarantees chaos.
Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency defended the reductions as streamlining bureaucracy. Yet affected workers argue eliminating roles focused on digital infrastructure and compliance modernization directly contradicts efficiency claims. One engineer, three weeks shy of probation completion, warned:
Morale and productivity are collapsing. This isn’t reform – it’s sabotage masked as progress.
The layoffs hit critical hubs like Washington D.C. (100+ jobs lost) and field offices in Texas, New York, and Florida. IRS veterans fear cascading impacts:
- 23% of staff eligible for retirement within 3 years
- Loss of best and brightestearly-career hires trained in AI audits
- Plummeting capacity to resolve taxpayer disputes or combat fraud
One surviving employee lamented: We’re hemorrhaging institutional knowledge. Taxpayers will face endless hold times now.As filing deadlines loom, critics demand accountability for decisions risking $688 billion in annual revenue – and public trust.