In it’s efforts to “cut government costs and improve government efficiency”, the Trump/Musk administration is hacking away at both revenues and efficiency. To justify these actions, the administration, with the support of Republican law makers, are spouting the most egregious lies assuming American citizens are so stupid they can’t see what’s happening around them.
Let’s take the example of the Trump/Musk attack on the IRS. Now, the IRS is the agency that collects money for the government. For years, the IRS was short of staff needed to audit tax returns from corporations and very rich people (like Elon Musk). As a result very few high income tax returns got audited, costing the government billions of dollars1. During the Biden administration, the IRS was authorized to hire about 7,000 people, mostly experienced auditors and accountants, for the purpose of increasing the number of audits. So what was one of Musk’s first “targets”? 6,000 newly hired IRS employees2, most of whom were hired to audit tax returns from large corporations and very wealthy people3. So the net result is that by firing 6,000 IRS employees, the government saves about $120 million in salaries and benefits, and risks the loss of over $600 billion in underpaid taxes.
Let’s consider another example of the Trump/Musk administration’s “efficiency”. A new target for elimination is the IRS Direct File (free online tax filing) program4. This program allows users to input their tax information directly into the system and eliminates the need for IRS employees to input the data manually (which is both expensive and error prone). Unfortunately, I don’t have data to compare the cost per tax return for manual data entry by IRS employees versus online data entry by tax payers, but assuming that automated systems are more efficient and accurate than manual systems, it is hard to believe that forcing people submit their forms on paper will save the government any money. But wait a minute. The administration, Republican lawmakers and tax preparation companies are claiming that the IRS’ Direct File program is a waste of government money because there are already several free electronic tax filing systems available. Is that true? Well, I guess you could call them free if you discount what you paid for the tax consultant (like H&R Block) or the tax preparation software (like TurboTax) that includes “free” electronic filing. But the bottom line is that you have to pay for the tax consultant or the tax preparation software in order to electronically file your taxes “for free”5. That’s hardly free, whereas the IRS Direct File program is truly free.
The bottom line is that the Trump/Musk attacks on the IRS will 1) save about 120 million dollars at the cost of hundreds of billions of lost revenue dollars and 2) cost the government and tax payers more money (with no savings) by un-automating its free, Direct File online tax filing program.
Meanwhile, the Trump/Musk administration continues to ignore the elephant in the room – the Defense Industrial Complex that costs tax payers over $1 trillion annually, pays for over 800 military bases, pays for overly expensive (and less than combat ready) combat system, pays for worldwide military adventurism and genocide, and has never passed an audit6.
So, the question is, do they really think we are so stupid as to not see through this monumental fraud?
1 The IRS has estimated that the treasury has lost revenues in excess of $600 billion due to its inability to investigate fraud.
3 Which raises the obvious question, was Musk and/or one or more of his corporations a target for audit?
4 AP News, 16 April 2025
5 It’s hard to tell what you will pay for filing your taxes with a tax consultant or with tax preparing software as there are a thousand different prices for as many kinds of software and different levels of tax consultation. But as an example, I paid $79.95 for my last version of TurboTax (good for one year only) which filed both federal and state tax forms electronically “for free”.