If that's true it will be a huge mistake by the Trump administration. The IRS is underfunded and understaffed as it is. Cut the workforce by 50% and it won't be do its core mission of collecting the nation's revenue. Those who salivate at the prospect of lying on their returns to pay a lot less than they owe — in other words commit the crime of tax fraud — because they believe they'll never get caught. Great for the wealthy who have a lot of ways to hide their income at their income at the expense of the great number of employees who won't have the same opportunity because the IRS computers will still be up and running and the wage statements will still come into the IRS. In other words, this continues the patttern I'm seeing in this White House of a policy of Making America Great for Billionaires by shoving all the responsibilities and costs of government and socieity on the middle and lower income classes and leaving the ultra rich free to do as they please with no responsibility or accountability.. That oligarchy of billionaires will rule the country for their benefit and make things worse for everyone else. In short Trump's operating motto seems to be "Greed is good".
I've been a tax professional for over 40 years, both in the IRS and in private practice and I can easily the problems Trump's plans will create. He seems unaware of the cliff he's driving towards with stupid decision like this. I mean, how did he decide on 50%? I know for a fact that they didn't get it by an in depth study of IRS operations and indentifying areas which are redundant, operating at too high a cost, etc. You know, the kinds of things that people who run organizations do before making drastic decisions like this one. Trump pulled that off the top of his brain because he figured Americans would think it's great. He wasn't the temporary bump in poll approval numbers he'll get. Hopefully Congress will have the sense to not to follow Trump's lead and insist on something more than just picking numbers out of thin air.
He's following the road map to power that his idols Vladmir Putin and Viktor Orban used to become dictators and run the country to rapidly add to their worth while their populations end up ever worse year after year. I don't see why most Americans support this stuff. It's not the wage earning American that has much to fear from the IRS. It's the wealthy that fear the IRS finding out just how much tax evasion they've. Before Trump was inaugurated the IRS was ramping up a program to more thoroughly examine the wealthiest Americans to make sure they pay their share. If I have to pay my share then sure as hell the billionairs better be paying their share too.
Unfortunately a large group of relatively uneducated citizens who voted for Trump only focus on the Trump's smoke about kicking out illegal migrants and making foreign nations pay for our taxes through tariffs. I've already explained why Trump's idea that tariffs will replace the income tax is completely unrealistic but Trump of course won't listen to his aides who point out realism. Trump prefers to live in the Trump World in his head. This doesn't bode well for the next four years. I prey this nations survives Trump's assault on our institutions, rights and freedoms without too much damage.