Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency team have arrived at the Internal Revenue Service and Democrats aren't happy about it.
NEW: My office is hearing that DOGE is now at the IRS. That means Musk's henchmen are in a position to dig through a trove of data about every taxpayer in America. And if your refund is delayed, they could very well be the reason.
— Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) February 13, 2025
President Donald Trump previewed the move earlier this week from the Oval office.
"The IRS will be looked at like everybody else. Just about everybody will be looked at," Trump said.
President Trump confirms the rumors that DOGE will be auditing the IRS for corruption and waste.
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) February 13, 2025
"The IRS will be looked at like everybody else. Just about everybody will be looked at. They're doing a helluva job... I call it the force of super geniuses."
🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/nUsholUKEE
According to the Government Accoutability Office, there's plenty of waste, fraud and abuse to go after at the tax agency, in addition to massive efficiency issues with a need to modernize.
"The Internal Revenue Service relies extensively on IT systems to collect taxes and distribute refunds. In August 2022, Congress appropriated tens of billions of dollars to the IRS, partly to help the agency modernize its IT systems. The IRS intends to use some of these funds to replace legacy IT systems, give taxpayers more online tools and services, and protect taxpayer privacy and security. However, the agency hasn't fully updated its plans to incorporate these additional funds. For example, the IRS needs to make changes to the scope and milestones of its IT modernization programs," a January 2025 report from GAO states. "GAO is making three recommendations to IRS to complete a technology roadmap, update individual modernization plans, and improve its reporting on modernization progress."
During an interview with Fox News Tuesday night, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent explained how he plans to improve the agency on behalf of taxpayers.
Treasury Secretary: DOGE Will Use AI To Upgrade The IRS
— Mr Producer (@RichSementa) February 14, 2025
Scott Bessent: "We’re at the advent of this great AI revolution and the IRS, from my understanding, has 12 different IT systems that operate on a system called COBOL, which is what I learned to program in college in the… pic.twitter.com/edBWcOPI2R