More than 800 Internal Revenue Service workers owe millions of dollars in back taxes even after a report earlier this year exposed the situation, the Washington Examiner reported Monday.
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, who has highlighted the issue, hopes that such public waste will be dealt with by billionaire Elon Musk, who has been appointed by President-elect Donald Trump along with former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to head a new department based on government efficiency.
A July report requested by Ernst revealed that more than 5,800 IRS and contractor employees owed almost $50 million in overdue taxes, with the agency firing just 20 of the employees who failed to pay taxes.
That report led Ernst to introduce the Audit the IRS Act, which would mandate regular tax audits of agency employees and forbid the IRS from hiring or continuing to employ tax evaders, the Washington Examiner reported.
But despite that pressure, the IRS wrote in a letter sent to Ernst earlier this month that of the 2,044 employees who reported having balances totaling more than $12 million, 860 still have not paid overdue taxes. Only 20 of the 70 workers who "willfully evaded" paying their taxes were fired.
"We haven't seen a tax revolt like this since the Boston Tea Party," Ernst said. "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."
Musk wrote on X: "There are thousands of examples of taxpayer dollars being wasted. These [are] just a few," citing the $50 million in back taxes owed by federal employees.
Ernst told the Washington Examiner that "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 added that she told the IRS that employees and contractors should be referred to the Department of Justice for tax evasion.