IRS hopes to replace fired enforcement workers with AI -- The Register

[erronis]

https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/08/the_irs_plans_to_replace/
Brandon Vigliarolo

Another mask-off moment, although fresh research says RoI for the tech is still lacking

Following considerable cuts to its enforcement workforce, the US's Internal Revenue Service (IRS) plans to use AI to supplement its ability to collect taxes from US citizens.

News of the IRS's plan came from US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent during a House Appropriations Committee hearing Tuesday to discuss the Treasury's budget proposal. (The IRS is a subsidiary of the Treasury.) When asked by Congressman Steny Hoyer (D-MD) whether proposed reductions in the IRS's IT budget, along with plans to cut additional staff, would affect the agencies ability to collect tax revenue, Bessent said it wouldn't, thanks to the current "AI boom."

"I believe through smarter IT, through this AI boom, that we can use that to enhance collections," Bessent told Hoyer and the Committee (24:29 into the video linked above). "I expect collections would continue to be very robust as they were this year."

. . .

One comment sort of echoing my thoughts. This will stop all attempts at getting taxes from the high-rollers who have complex intertwined holdings and companies. There's no way that AI (in its current infancy) can pierce these.

Tax collections are going to plummet

Biden had pushed through increased funding for the IRS, which they demonstrated is being repaid 6 to 1 in increased enforcement of EXISTING tax law. That is, collecting more taxes without changing any laws just by getting people who owe taxes to pay them.

Even then they estimated there were hundreds of billions in uncollected taxes from fraud and some people outright not filing at all. When the IRS has been gutted, morons are in charge, and AI is supposed to be the police the number of people taking deductions they know they aren't entitled to or simply deciding not to file and dare the IRS to catch them is going to increase.

That's what happens when the administration consists of more than twice as many billionaires as all other administrations combined. What do billionaires want more than lower tax rates? Less ability for the IRS to discover how many income they are hiding or deductions/credits they aren't legally permitted to take.

Trump is going to cut taxes for the only people who cares about even if congress deadlocks and can't pass an extension to his 2017 tax cuts. That would mean you and I pay more, while billionaires pay less. That's what MAGA voters are getting.

[SheltieLover]

1. What could go wrong amidst the ai slop?

[Diraven]

2. If this was a legitimate plan

They would have developed this AI tax enforcement tool before firing half their employees. Bessent is just throwing out buzzwords to suck up to Musk.

[Silent Type]

3. AI works perfectly for an agency that 80+% of its activities can -- and has -- been performed by computers for decades.

Obviously, staff is needed for more more complex audits and returns. And I'm opposed to the way trump, musk, etc., handled what the call a "reorganization."

What we really need is new laws enacted to increase taxes on wealthy. Won't take additional staff to change 15% to 40.3%.

[hedda_foil]

4. No doubt they'll use Eloon's Grok government-wide.