On July 12, ex-U.S. Rep. Billy Long of Missouri was confirmed as commissioner of the IRS, giving the tax agency a permanent head following months of acting leaders and major staffing cuts, according to The Associated Press.
The Senate confirmed Long on a 53-44 vote in spite of Democrats’ apprehensions regarding the campaign contributions he got after President Donald Trump nominated him to serve as IRS commissioner.
During his time in Congress, where he was from 2011 to 2023, he sponsored legislation to eliminate the IRS.
He will take over an IRS that is now going through huge changes such as layoffs and voluntary retirements of tens of thousands of workers and accusations that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) mishandled sensitive taxpayer data, according to The Associated Press. Unions as well as advocacy organizations have sued to stop DOGE from accessing the information.
The IRS was one of the highest-profile agencies that is still without a Senate-confirmed leader. Prior to Long’s confirmation, the IRS went through four acting leaders, such as one who resigned over a deal between the IRS and the Department of Homeland Security to share immigrants’ tax data with Immigration.
After leaving Congress, Long worked with a firm that disbursed the COVID employee retention tax credit. That tax credit program was eliminated after then-IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel made a determination that it was a fraud.
Long went before the Senate Finance Committee in May and stated he did not do anything wrong in his involvement in the tax credit scheme.
Before Long's confirmation vote, Oregon's Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden, the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, sent a letter to White House chief of staff Susie Wiles saying that the required FBI background check done on Long as a political appointee was not adequate.
“These issues were not adequately investigated,” Wyden said in the letter. “In fact, the FBI’s investigation, a process dictated by the White House, seemed designed to avoid substantively addressing any of these concerning public reports. It’s almost as if the FBI is unable to read the newspaper.”
Democratic lawmakers have also written to Long and his associated firms listing concerns with what they call unusually timed contributions made to the newly-confirmed commissioner’s unsuccessful 2022 Senate campaign committee right after Trump nominated him.
According to The Associated Press, the IRS faces a precarious future under Long's leadership. Tax experts have said they are concerned that the 2026 filing season can be hindered given the many tax collection workers who have left. In April, The Associated Press reported that the IRS intended to cut as many as 20,000 staffers, which is equivalent to up to 25% of the workforce. An IRS representative on June 12 confirmed the IRS had let go of roughly that many workers but said the cuts were about the same number of IRS jobs that were added under the previous administration, The Associated Press reported.
The fate of the Direct File program, the agency's free electronic tax return filing system, is also not certain. Republican lawmakers and commercial tax preparation companies had complained it was a waste of taxpayer money given that free filing programs are already in existence, albeit are not user friendly. Long said during his confirmation hearing that it would be one of the first programs that will come up for discussion if he were confirmed.
Long is not the only Trump appointee to support dismantling an agency he was designated to head. Another one would be Linda McMahon, the current education secretary, who has said repeatedly that she is trying to put herself out of a job by closing the federal department and moving its functions to the states.
