‘Willfully evaded’: IRS confirms many hundreds of its employees still owe millions in overdue taxes

One of the most-talked-about plans in the coming administration of President-elect Donald Trump is the idea of “government efficiency.”

In fact, he’s picked billionaire business founder and leader Elon Musk to work on government waste, and now a report from the Washington Examiner lists the Internal Revenue Service as a possible target.

It’s because hundreds of IRS workers still owe millions of dollars in unpaid taxes, and only a handful have been punished.

The report explained the IRS has confirmed in a letter to Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, in an update of its report that 2,044 IRS workers had past-due balances of more than $12 million, the problem remains.

Now, the IRS told Ernst, 860 workers still have not paid their overdue taxes, and only 20 of the 70 who “willfully evaded” paying taxes were removed.

The Washington Examiner said it obtained access to the letter from the IRS letter to Ernst, who said, “We haven’t seen a tax revolt like this since the Boston Tea Party. If hardworking Americans dodge taxes, they are faced with steep fines and imprisonment, but it appears that tax collectors in Washington believe those rules are for thee but not for me.”

It was a report back in July, requested by the senator, that found some 5,800 IRS and contractor workers owed about $50 million.

The Examiner said, “The July report prompted Ernst to introduce the Audit the IRS Act, which would require regular tax audits of agency employees and prohibit the IRS from hiring or continuing to employ tax evaders.”

The controversy already has attracted Musk’s attention, the report said, with his social media statement, “Looks like a lot of opportunity for @DOGE!” That refers to the Department of Government Efficiency.

Trump has picked Musk, along with onetime presidential candidate entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, to head the “efficiency” campaign to slash Washington’s bureaucracy, excess rules and spending.

“While Elon Musk and the Trump administration are looking to eliminate waste, I can think of no better place to start than by firing every single IRS agent refusing to pay taxes,” Ernst insisted in the Examiner report, while suggesting those scofflaws be referred to the Department of Justice.

“Our Criminal Investigation division has a well-established process for referring cases to DOJ, which includes, but is not limited to, cases involving current or former employees and contractors,” IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel told Ernst.