Congress must stop the IRS hiring party before it’s too late

Americans are sour on the state of the economy — and for good reason. Last year, they watched major companies shed more than 305,000 jobs. That’s a nearly 200% increase in job losses over 2022. Nearly 70% of Americans believe the economy is getting worse. Nearly half of Americans think their standard of living is worse than their parents'.

Why, then, is the federal bureaucracy expanding at the same time at taxpayers’ expense?

With 90,000 employees, the IRS was already massive. Now it plans to hire 20,000 workers by the end of 2024.

In the first eight months of 2023, the federal government hired 75,000 new workers. The government “created” another 49,000 jobs in November alone.

This growth was driven primarily by America’s most-hated government agency: the IRS. Even the TSA and the Department of Education have much higher favorability ratings than the tax collectors. Yet in this time of great economic distress for many, our leaders still felt the urge to expand the size and scope of this agency.

Congress passed the deceptively named Inflation Reduction Act in 2022 under the false notion that it would help ordinary Americans. All it really did was provide $80 billion for the IRS to go on a hiring spree for the next 10 years.

With 90,000 employees, the IRS was already massive. Now it plans to hire 20,000 workers by the end of 2024.

Traci DiMartini, a career bureaucrat who previously worked as the chief human capital officer at the Government Services Agency, is overseeing that effort. While Americans struggle to afford their groceries and worry about layoffs, DiMartini says it’s “an exciting time to be at the IRS.” Taxpayers can rejoice knowing she’s having so much fun on their dime!

The IRS plans to weaponize taxpayer-funded government services and benefits to recruit new bureaucrats who will further micromanage our lives. Rather than using the private sector to find competent people to staff the agency, the IRS will rely on the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the department squarely responsible for hiring legions of incompetent workers who almost never have to worry about being fired.

The OPM also has a poor record on protecting sensitive information. Although the office fell victim to one of the largest government data breaches in history, government agencies like the IRS keep using it for hiring and human resources without batting an eye. They continue to do so even though private-sector companies are far more capable of completing the same HR tasks for the government (they’ve done so in the past).

But the truth is that whether it’s the government or the private sector doing the hiring, the last thing Americans want or need is for their massively indebted government to grow bigger even as the private sector grows smaller.

Americans don’t feel like they’re living in a time of prosperity. Many are looking for work and struggling to afford the basics. People want change. The time is now for conservatives in Congress on key oversight committees to stand up and say enough is enough. Let’s end this hiring party while we still can.