Ahead of IRS Commissioner Confirmation Hearing, Groundwork Calls on Senate to Reject Billy Long

Ahead of IRS Commissioner Confirmation Hearing, Groundwork Calls on Senate to Reject Billy Long

Today, the Senate Finance Committee is holding a hearing on the confirmation of former U.S. Representative Billy Long (R-MO) to lead the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). As a member of Congress, Long advocated for weakening and even abolishing the IRS to make it easier for the wealthy and large corporations to skirt their taxes. Groundwork Collaborative’s Senior Advisor for Economic Policy Emily DiVito reacted with the following statement:

“Billy Long can’t be trusted to lead an agency he would prefer to destroy and defraud. He spent his career in Congress working to dismantle the IRS and empower tax-evading corporations, and during his tenure as an inexperienced tax consultant, he gave fraudulent tax advice to businesses and individuals and peddled fake tribal tax credits.

“The Trump Administration’s indiscriminate cuts to the IRS are already crippling the agency, and Long’s leadership would only weaken it further—meaning more tax refund delays, longer wait times for taxpayer assistance, and less capacity to go after wealthy tax cheats. The Senate Finance Committee should reject his confirmation.”

BACKGROUND

• Billy Long spent his 12 years in Congress trying to dismantle the IRS, advocating for proposals to weaken – or outright abolish – the agency so it couldn’t go after wealthy tax cheats.
• During his tenure as an unaccredited and inexperienced tax consultant, he gave fraudulent tax advice, encouraging businesses and individuals to claim millions of dollars in tax credits for which they were not eligible – including the Employee Retention Tax Credit and a non-existent Tribal Tax Credit.
• Long has also been accused of accepting illegal donations from corporations trying to skirt their tax bills.
• While in Congress, Long was a vocal proponent of 2017’s Tax Cut & Jobs Act, which resulted in a huge tax giveaway to billionaires and corporations and failed to provide any meaningful relief to workers or families.
• He also supported bills to eliminate all federal income, payroll, gift, and estate taxes and replace them with a highly-regressive 30% national sales tax that would have dramatically raised costs for U.S. families.
• According to outside analysis, the U.S. could lose between $395 billion and $2.4 trillion over 10 years due to draconian cuts to the IRS workforce. Every $1 spent on auditing the top 0.1% of earners returns more than $26 to taxpayers each year in revenue. In just five months, the Trump administration has terminated approximately 11,500 IRS employees – or 11% of the total workforce. Nearly 60% of these layoffs came from teams responsible for auditing and enforcement. With as many as 30,000 additional layoffs promised, Trump may terminate approximately 40% of the total IRS workforce.
• Long is also likely to terminate IRS’s free online filing tool Direct File, which has saved taxpayers millions in filing fees. While in the House, Long supported legislation to prohibit the IRS from developing its own free filing tool, a handout to private tax preparation companies that charge exorbitant filing fees for the same service.
• While in Congress, Long advocated for the IRS to investigate the non-profit status of charitable organizations with which he had political disagreements, including the Humane Society.
• Given Trump’s threats to revoke the tax-exempt status of non-profit organizations and educational institutions he doesn’t like, Long as Commissioner would likely take that charge and run with it – targeting more organizations for their outspokenness of Trump’s extreme agenda.