Billy Long didn’t last long. Confirmed by the Senate as IRS Commissioner just 2 months ago, he became the latest losing apprentice on Friday. The shortest tenure in history of a Senate-confirmed IRS commissioner. Sixth leader of the IRS this year. Fired and banished to Iceland. The baron apparent X’ed:
Not that Billy was ever qualified for the job, but the message is clear. Follow orders from above, no matter how legally questionable, or “YOU’RE FIRED.”
“I want to be sure he’s a ruthless son of a bitch,” Nixon told aides about a potential IRS nominee. “That he will do what he’s told. That every income tax return I want to see, I see. That he’ll go after our enemies and not go after our friends. It’s as simple as that.”
The trigger here was Trump’s demand to use IRS data to go after undocumented immigrants, which has been challenged as illegal under taxpayer privacy statutes.
What else is Trump doing on the IRS front? Well, there’s his campaign to revoke tax-exempt status of those he dislikes, like Harvard. And then there’s his nonsensical project to cut the IRS staff by 50%.
Trump’s partner in this self-defeating slash and burn project? Mike Lawler. One of his first acts in Congress was to denigrate and defund the IRS. His first week on the job in 2023, he voted in favor of the Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act.
Here we see Mike Lawler kicking off a career of misleading his constituents, seeking to rescind $71B in funding for the IRS. Much like his deceptive State and Local Tax Deduction (SALT) campaign of recent times, Lawler wasn’t protecting hardworking families and small businesses. He was encouraging wealthy tax cheats. Read the facts.
And much like his vote for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), Lawler was voting to increase the federal deficit, not save money. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the so-called Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act would have saved $71B, but also decreased tax receipts by $186B over 10 years.
The IRS is one of the most effective tools the government has to attack the deficit. Not by increasing audits of the middle class, but by simply collecting what’s owed, starting with the top 1%. Analysis suggests that by collecting all the unpaid taxes owed by the top 1%, the government could raise an additional $175 billion every year – without increasing taxes.
Mike Lawler and his GOP colleagues are doing the opposite, looking the other way while Trump and DOGE have reduced the IRS workforce by 25% so far this year, with more reductions promised. The Center for American Progress estimates that these cuts could cost the government nearly $1T over the next decade.
And back to the issue of the day, sharing IRS data with ICE to facilitate mass deportations. This alone could cost $300B in lost tax revenue over the next 10 years, as unauthorized immigrants stop filing tax returns out of fear of deportation.
Where is our Representative Mike Lawler, who reminds us constantly that the current deficit is unsustainable? He’s on recess, doing a victory lap as the budget-busting Mr. SALT, while his IRS-corrupting idol ravages the land.
Rule of Lawler 