Republicans Hold Fire as IRS Workers Cut, Even in Red States

Republican lawmakers are largely taking a wait-and-see position as the Trump administration lays off thousands of IRS workers and plans to halve the workforce, even though many of the employees are in GOP-controlled states.

Nearly 100,000 people worked for IRS as of September 2024, according to data from the Office of Personnel Management. Of the employees whose location information was publicly available, the highest number of IRS workers were in Texas, followed by Utah, California, Georgia, and Missouri, that data says.

Those states accounted for just over a third of the agency’s total workforce, and President Donald Trump carried all of those states except California in 2024.

While some express concern, Republicans are not publicly protesting.

Rep. Blake Moore (R-Utah), whose district includes a major IRS processing facility in Ogden, emphasized the importance of having a strategic plan to ensure future terminations are done for the right reasons.

“I hope to keep communicating that unless we’re going to get rid of income tax, we still need to process returns,” said Moore. “We don’t want to just get through this tax season and then not have a plan for next year. So that’s the part that we’ll be communicating on behalf of my constituents.”

The administration has fired at least 7,400 newer IRS hires deemed noncritical to the filing season in recent weeks, and put a number of IRS leases for taxpayer assistance centers—traditionally backed by both parties—on the chopping block. The cuts are part of Trump’s plan to halve the IRS’s headcount by year’s end—part of a sweeping effort to shrink government.

“Until we sort of figure out where we get to where these government offices are kind of right-sized based on some rational, logical staffing needs, I think it’s going to be a little bit of disruption,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas.) told reporters in late February.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.)—whose state employed 5,672 IRS employees as of last September, the sixth most of any state—said federal agencies must retain enough headcount for the jobs needed to keep government running. That includes the IRS, he said.

“We need people in those positions to do the job, to serve our constituents,” Fitzpatrick said. “Because when they’re not, that’s when our office gets called.”

In its reduction of probationary employees, the agency fired 840 new hires in California, 824 in New York, and 735 in Texas, according to IRS data provided to Congress and obtained by Bloomberg Tax.

“We’re just trying to figure it out,” said Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, when asked about the shifts in IRS operations and layoffs. Oklahoma had only 135 IRS employees, according to the OPM data. About 27 IRS probationary employees from Oklahoma were laid off, according to the IRS data.

Enforcement vs. Customer Service

After years of stagnant funding amid increased responsibilities, the IRS reported strides in technology modernization and improved taxpayer services, thanks to an influx of billions in cash from the Democrats’ 2022 tax-and-climate law known as the Inflation Reduction Act.

Ever since, Republicans have blasted the billions allocated for IRS enforcement in the law. But funds to help constituents get calls answered or help in person have enjoyed bipartisan support. GOP lawmakers have also criticized the agency for closing some taxpayer assistance centers in recent years.

Democrats have hammered the administration for the assault on the federal workforce and Republicans for their lack of pushback. But their minority status in both chambers given them little formal recourse.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett, a Texas Democrat who previously represented an area that included a large Austin IRS processing center before district boundaries changed, criticized Musk and raised alarms.

“With tax season underway, refunds may be delayed as customer service disappears,” Doggett said in a statement to Bloomberg Tax. “But the real long-term damage is to America’s financial security by a President, who takes pride in his own tax avoidance and is determined to facilitate more of the same for his billionaire buddies by weakening enforcement and dismantling the IRS.”

Republicans have managed to claw back about a quarter of what started as $80 billion for the IRS in the tax-and-climate law, and are seeking further reductions as the March 14 government shutdown deadline looms.

Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), who leads the subcommittee responsible for the appropriations bill funding the IRS, voiced support for the Trump effort to reduce the agency’s workforce. Tennessee had the nation’s seventh highest number of IRS employees, at 5,482, according to the September 2024 data.

“The pace of play here is rapid, it’s dramatic, but it’s also called for,” Hagerty said.