Trump Claims He “Promptly Stopped” the Recruitment of New IRS Agents

January 26, 2025 TruthUSA

The comment was made during a speech in Nevada.

On Saturday, President Donald Trump announced that he has put a stop to any new recruitments for Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agents.

“They were attempting to hire—88,000 new personnel to partner with you, and we’re currently formulating a plan to either let go of all of them or potentially transfer them to the border,” Trump stated during his Nevada speech, further asserting, “On day one, I immediately halted the hiring of any new IRS agents.”

“I believe we will relocate them to the border where they would be permitted to carry firearms. You know, they emphasize being pro-gun. These individuals can carry guns. So, we will likely transfer them to the border,” he added.

This reiterates a claim made by Republicans in 2022 that some of the new IRS agents would possess the authority to carry firearms, despite the legislation not allocating funds specifically for a significant number of armed IRS officials. At that time, the IRS indicated that it expected to allocate approximately $8.64 billion of the new funding during the 2023 and 2024 fiscal years, with 7,239 of the new hires for enforcement roles.

Under President Joe Biden’s administration, a plan was approved to allocate $80 billion to the IRS as part of the primarily Democrat-backed Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. House Republicans subsequently retracted billions from the legislation, most recently in an effort to prevent a government shutdown in December.

The original estimate of hiring 87,000 or 88,000 IRS agents seemingly originated from a U.S. Treasury Department forecast in 2021, aimed at determining the necessary staffing levels to ensure the agency’s efficiency in tax collection.

Last year, the IRS reported plans to employ nearly 20,000 new staff members and implement new technology over the course of the next two years as it embarks on an $80 billion investment initiative to enhance tax enforcement and improve customer service.

Shortly after taking office, Trump issued an executive order to impose a hiring freeze on federal civilian employees across the government, asserting that “no Federal civilian position that is unfilled at noon on January 20, 2025, may be filled, and no new position may be established except as otherwise stipulated in this memorandum or other relevant law.”

“Except as outlined below, this freeze is applicable to all executive departments and agencies irrespective of their funding sources,” it further states.

In addition to the hiring freeze, the president halted disbursements of funding under the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act, which his office described as “terminating the green new deal,” including a pause on funds “supporting programs, projects, or activities that may be affected by the policy established in Section 2 of the order.”

Section 2 of the executive order primarily focuses on directing agency actions, including the safeguarding of U.S. national and economic security and eliminating a federal electric vehicle requirement.

Trump also expressed a desire to establish an External Revenue Service to gather “tariffs, duties, and other trade-related revenues,” and has proposed implementing a 25 percent tariff on Canada and Mexico concerning border security.

During his Nevada address, the president also proposed the elimination of federal income tax, intending to fund the government exclusively through tariffs. “How about just no taxes at all? We could achieve that,” he remarked.

Just prior to Trump’s inauguration, former IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel resigned from his post. Trump has nominated former Rep. Billy Long (R-Mo.) to oversee the agency, pending Senate approval.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Source link