The Internal Revenue Service’s acting chief counsel, William Paul, has been removed from his role at the agency and demoted. He was replaced by Andrew De Mello, an attorney in the chief counsel’s office who is supportive of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency,
CBS New sources said Paul was demoted from his position because he clashed with the DOGE’s alleged push to share tax information with multiple agencies. The news also comes as the IRS plans to institute massive cuts to its workforce.
The Trump administration plans to downsize nearly 20 percent of the agency’s staff as the U.S. DOGE Service seeks access to sensitive taxpayer records.
Also, DOGE officials instructed the acting IRS commissioner to eliminate 18,141 jobs across the agency by May 15, according to records obtained by The Washington Post.
The records show that the tax compliance department would have the largest job cuts (8,260), followed by taxpayer services (3,247) and information technology. Those moves are only the initial phase of job cuts.
Commerce Sec. Howard Lutnick said Trump wants to replace the federal tax agency and see people making under $150,000 free of federal taxes.
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