The Trump administration dramatically reduced efforts to pursue tax cheats in 2025, government data shows, shedding tens of thousands of employees at the Internal Revenue Service, including those charged with enforcement.
The result was a 5% decline in revenue collected through enforcement actions, or almost $5 billion, in the fiscal year, according to data obtained by Reuters through the Freedom of Information Act. The agency opened more than 120,000 fewer tax audits, opens new tab in 2025 than in the year prior, the Taxpayer Advocate Service, the IRS’ internal watchdog, reported.
Treasury Department officials told Reuters that the IRS has seen a 12% increase in enforcement revenue in the first five months of the 2026 fiscal year, which began October 1.
The Department of Government Efficiency, the now-defunct cost-cutting agency created by President Donald Trump and led by billionaire Elon Musk, oversaw mass staffing cuts at the IRS that carved into every aspect of the tax agency.
But the IRS’s enforcement arm lost roughly 5,000 of its employees headed into 2026 and is on track to cut another 5,000 in the coming year, according to the agency’s budget projection.
The moves at the IRS essentially wipe out one of the Biden administration’s signature achievements, sending tens of billions of dollars to the agency to increase tax scrutiny of major corporations and wealthy individuals.
Lambert here: Coincidence? You be the judge!
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