Billy Long will be sworn in as IRS commissioner, taking over an agency he once sought to close
By MELISSA GOLDIN Associated Press WASHINGTON AP Former Missouri congressman Billy Long will be ceremonially sworn in as commissioner of the Internal Revenue Institution on Friday taking over a beleaguered agency that he once sought to abolish and that has since been beset with steep staffing cuts and leadership turnover Long won confirmation in a - Senate vote last month despite concerns from Democrats about his connection to a tax credit scheme and campaign contributions he received after then President-elect Donald Trump nominated him for the top IRS job in December Related Articles For Sale Trump is leveraging power of his office to reap profits for family businesses Civil rights work is slowing as Trump dismantles the Guidance Department agency evidence shows House Republicans grasp for response to demands for transparency in Epstein affair Graham Sorry Big Bird dumbest waste of tax dollars is Conclusively about to die Trump threatens Wall Street Journal over Epstein story AG Pam Bondi moves to make various documents general Long s commissionership comes after months of acting leaders and massive staffing cuts that have threatened to derail next year s tax filing season Tens of thousands of workers have voluntarily retired or been laid off as part of the Trump administration s efforts to shrink the size of the federal bureaucracy through the Department of Establishment Efficiency In my first days I plan to ask you my employee partners to help me develop a new lifestyle here Long wrote in a message to IRS employees I m big on lifestyle and I m anxious to develop one that makes your lives and the taxpayers lives better While in Congress where he served from to the Republican sponsored regulation to get rid of the IRS A former auctioneer and real estate broker Long has no background in tax administration He also hosted a radio talk show from to on which the IRS was consistently a hot topic according to his biography on the agency s website Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick communicated Fox News in February that Trump s goal is to abolish the Internal Revenue Arrangement and let all the outsiders pay referring to tariffs imposed on other countries The president has also floated the idea of getting rid of the federal income tax and using tariffs to make up the difference The nearly -page tax and spending bill Trump signed earlier this month contains about trillion in tax cuts They include new tax deductions on tips overtime and auto loans as well as scores of business-related cuts Long has toed the Trump party line for years In during an unsuccessful campaign for the U S Senate in Missouri he distributed a -second ad that falsely claimed the poll was rigged and stolen from Trump states the president frequently touts himself During his Senate bid Long worked with a firm that distributed fraudulent pandemic-era employee retention tax credits He appeared before the Senate Finance Committee in May and denied any wrongdoing related to his involvement in the scheme Democrats have called for a criminal scrutiny into Long s connections to other alleged tax loopholes They have also written to Long and his associated firms detailing concerns with what they call unusually timed contributions made to Long s defunct Senate campaign committee shortly after Trump nominated him Long is not the only Trump appointee to assistance dismantling an agency he was assigned to manage Linda McMahon the current guidance secretary has repeatedly commented she is trying to put herself out of a job by closing the federal department and transferring its work to the states FBI Director Kash Patel has proposed radical overhauls to the -year-old agency And Rick Perry Trump s potential secretary during his first term called for abolishing the Strength Department during his bid for the GOP presidential nomination
