By Richard Rubin and Brian Schwartz
WASHINGTON—It’s Michael Faulkender’s turn in the hot seat atop the Internal Revenue Service, a notoriously hard D.C. job that has somehow gotten tougher.
Faulkender, the deputy Treasury secretary and this year’s fourth acting IRS commissioner, faces pressure from every direction. Above, President Trump is questioning the tax-exempt status of some universities and other groups, blurring lines intended to separate the IRS from politics. Below, the agency’s senior ranks are thinning after waves of departures.
In front of Faulkender is the challenge of implementing the administration’s vision for shrinking and revamping the IRS. The basic idea: Rapidly replace people with computers and reduce reliance on contractors for technology and support. That is the agenda pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, and it isn’t substantially changing with Faulkender’s arrival, despite friction between Musk and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent over Faulkender’s appointment.
The new IRS strategy carries risk. The administration is attempting fast changes to a government function that touches hundreds of millions of Americans. Technology failures or call-center backlogs can derail the tax-filing season, and agency veterans worry that weaker enforcement will erode compliance if tax cheats think they can avoid detection.
“We’re committed to improving the efficiency” of the IRS, Faulkender said in a statement. “For the last 35 years, we’ve been five years away from the IRS being modernized. Under the direct leadership of Treasury, the modernization will be done in two years at a fraction of the cost.”
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