DOGE caucus leader demands IRS crackdown as nearly 6K staff owe up to $46M in back taxes
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, the top Republican in the Senate's government efficiency (DOGE) caucus, is urging the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to conduct another audit of its current and former employees and contractors, who, as of May 2023, owed nearly $46 million in delinquent taxes.
Just under 6,000 IRS employees and contractors were audited to have not paid their taxes as of May 2023, with only about a third on payment plans, according to a Treasury inspector general report last year. Ernst requested the report at the time and sent a letter to the Department of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent this week urging him to "ensure that federal employees comply with the tax law in order to maintain the public’s confidence."
"In the era of DOGE, I hope the IRS can get its own house in order, before going after private citizens," Ernst said.
She also criticized the IRS for rehiring roughly 400 individuals who had previously been dismissed for performance issues, such as misconduct or failure to comply with tax obligations.
The IRS also "rehired 300 former employees who had been let go for issues like criminal misconduct, sexual misconduct, inability to perform duties, fighting and assault, and unauthorized access to tax return information," Ernst said.
Another March 2023 report from the Treasury inspector general revealed that more than 42,000 civilian federal employees failed to file their tax returns on time for several fiscal years, between Oct. 1, 2015 and Sept. 30, 2020.
According to the report, the majority of the "repeat nonfilers" were employed by the Post Office, the Department of Veterans Affairs or the Army.
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"It should come as no surprise that the IRS is America's least favorite agency," Ernst told FOX Business in a statement.
Ernst said the IRS has a "history of politicization" and "tax-dodging tax collectors." Ernst's push to crackdown on delinquent IRS workers comes three weeks ahead of Tax Day.
Since 2023, Ernst has pursued measures to enhance oversight of the IRS. In July 2024, she introduced the "Audit the IRS Act" to prohibit individuals with seriously delinquent tax debts from serving as IRS officers or employees.
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In February, DOGE's Elon Musk posted a poll on X asking users, "Would you like @DOGE to audit the IRS?"
"Yes, and I have a bill to do just that!" Ernst posted in response to Musk. "My Audit the IRS Act will audit the auditors and fire the more than 800 IRS agents who owe millions of dollars in back taxes."
However, the IRS blocked Musk's aide from accessing individual taxpayer returns and other personal information, despite support from the White House to identify waste in the IRS.