It’s not uncommon for immigration opponents on the right to argue that undocumented immigrants don’t pay taxes in the United States. Those claims have long been false, and they looked a little worse when the Department of Homeland Security asked the IRS to share information filed by undocumented taxpayers with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Complicating matters, the IRS ultimately agreed to share the sensitive information.
It’s an unprecedented move. Indeed, officials have long guarded sensitive taxpayer information with great care, even shielding the information from other agencies. But the Trump administration is determined to intensify its mass deportation policy, and so the Internal Revenue Service succumbed to pressure.
As The Associated Press reported, developments generated an important resignation.
The acting commissioner of the IRS is resigning over a deal to share immigrants’ tax data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement for the purpose of identifying and deporting people illegally in the U.S., according to two people familiar with the decision. Melanie Krause, who had served as acting head since February, will step down over the new data-sharing document signed Monday by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. The agreement will allow ICE to submit names and addresses of immigrants inside the U.S. illegally to the IRS for cross-verification against tax records.
If you’re thinking that you’ve seen a lot of headlines lately about IRS commissioners stepping down, it’s not your imagination.
In January, then-IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel, who was nominated by Joe Biden, resigned on Inauguration Day as Donald Trump prepared to replace him. Werfel was followed by Doug O’Donnell, a longtime IRS official, who stepped down a month later.
O’Donnell was followed by Krause, who resigned in the wake of the IRS-DHS deal.
As a rule, it’s not a great sign when a powerful and important government agency loses three chiefs in less than four months. (A Politico report added that several other key IRS officials, including the agency’s chief financial, privacy and risk officers, are also planning to leave, though this has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News.) Krause’s temporary successor shouldn’t get too comfortable, meanwhile, since the president has nominated former Republican Rep. Billy Long to lead the tax agency — despite the former Missouri congressman’s highly controversial record, which includes championing legislation to abolish the agency that Trump now wants him to lead. In case that weren’t quite enough, the IRS is also dealing with DOGE-driven disruptions, which are poised to be extraordinarily expensive, while simultaneously abandoning a much-needed IRS modernization initiative and taking steps to politicize the agency’s criminal division. All of this is happening ahead of the April 15 “Tax Day” deadline. Politico’s report added, “It is still unclear whether the turmoil at the agency has affected tax return or refund processing, a concern voiced by many tax industry professionals.”
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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