The IRS is preparing to lay off thousands of probationary workers right in the middle of tax season, a move that seems to have caught the usual bureaucratic class off guard. According to sources familiar with the agency’s plans, these cuts could take effect as soon as next week. Of course, the timing is no accident—it comes as part of the Trump administration’s broader effort to trim the bloated federal workforce, a goal that has sent career bureaucrats into full-blown panic mode.
The administration has made it clear that nearly all probationary employees who haven’t secured full civil service protection will be let go. In a government notorious for its job security regardless of competence, this is a much-needed reality check. Federal workers have long enjoyed guaranteed employment, with little concern for performance or efficiency. But under this administration, the days of cushy, untouchable government jobs may be numbered. A plan was previously announced to offer buyouts to most federal employees through a “deferred resignation program,” allowing them to collect a paycheck until September while heading for the exits. The deadline for that offer was February 6, but IRS employees working through the 2025 tax season were specifically told they wouldn’t be allowed to cash out until after tax filings are complete.
As expected, details about the total number of affected employees remain hazy, and neither the IRS nor the U.S. Treasury is responding to inquiries. What is clear, however, is that the IRS is in an awkward position. After years of ballooning budgets and an $80 billion cash infusion courtesy of Biden’s so-called Inflation Reduction Act, Democrats were banking on hiring an army of new IRS agents to increase audits and ramp up enforcement. But Republicans have been successful in rolling back that funding, dealing a serious blow to the left’s dream of an expanded tax collection machine.
Meanwhile, billionaire Elon Musk, through his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has been pushing for even deeper cuts, arguing that entire federal agencies should simply be “deleted.” Naturally, this level of government downsizing has set off alarm bells among career bureaucrats and their political allies, who have built their careers on expanding the size and power of Washington’s administrative state. The left’s response has been predictable—attorneys general from 14 states have filed a lawsuit challenging DOGE’s authority, claiming Musk’s agency is wielding “unchecked power” in its mission to shrink the federal government. Apparently, the same people who saw no issue with unelected bureaucrats running the country now suddenly have constitutional concerns when the goal is less government, not more.
At the heart of this battle is a fundamental divide: those who believe government agencies should endlessly expand and those who recognize that Washington’s bureaucratic behemoth is long overdue for a diet. The IRS layoffs are just the beginning. The Trump administration, along with Musk’s efficiency crusade, is making it clear that business as usual is over. Whether the swamp likes it or not, the American people might finally get a government that works for them instead of one that just grows itself at their expense.
