Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wasted no time booting Gary Shapley from his role as IRS acting commissioner after uncovering Elon Musk’s hidden influence in the appointment. The Trump-backed pick got the boot amid major agency turmoil, with Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael Faulkender stepping in temporarily. The leadership shakeup comes as the IRS grapples with massive workforce cuts and controversial data-sharing demands. More drama surely lurks beneath the surface.
In a stunning shakeup at the Internal Revenue Service, Gary Shapley was booted from his role as acting commissioner on Tuesday after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent discovered Elon Musk had orchestrated his appointment behind the scenes.
The drama unfolded amid massive changes at the tax agency, where Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been wielding considerable influence. Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael Faulkender will step in temporarily while Trump’s permanent pick, former Rep. Billy Long, awaits Senate confirmation.
Musk’s DOGE team tightens grip on IRS as leadership musical chairs continues, with Faulkender filling in until Long’s confirmation.
This leadership circus comes at a particularly messy time for the IRS. The agency is hemorrhaging staff, with orders to slash 20% of its workforce – that’s 18,000 jobs – by mid-May. Tax compliance is taking the biggest hit, losing over 8,000 positions. Because timing is everything, right?
The real tension stems from DOGE’s aggressive push to share taxpayer information across government agencies. Career IRS staff have been pushing back hard, citing Section 6103 of the federal tax code, which keeps taxpayer data under lock and key. But Musk’s team isn’t taking no for an answer. Users seeking information about these policy changes on the IRS website are finding many pages displaying 404 error messages.
Just last month, the Department of Homeland Security came knocking for addresses of 700,000 undocumented individuals. The previous interim head Melanie Krause resigned after releasing immigrant tax data to ICE. Meanwhile, veteran IRS employees are practically shouting from the rooftops that these data-sharing requests cross legal lines.
The revolving door at the top isn’t helping matters. William Paul got demoted as chief counsel after just two months, replaced by Andrew De Mello, a Trump-era nominee.
And let’s not forget Doug O’Donnell, another IRS veteran who jumped ship in March.
Despite a federal judge ordering the rehiring of fired workers, the administration is fighting back with appeals.
And DOGE? They’re busy planning a “hackathon” to build data-sharing tools – because apparently, that’s exactly what the IRS needs during tax season. The whole situation is enough to make even the most seasoned bureaucrats reach for the aspirin.
