By: Ms. Jheri Worldwide, Staff Writer
On February 20th, The Washington Post reported the Internal Revenue Service “Starts mass layoffs, with 7,000 expected to lose their jobs,” among all the announced layoffs of the Trump administration and the DOGE team this struck me the most. After all, the IRS has long since been a source of frustration and fear for many, especially in the Black community and amongst many conservative groups.
After all, in October 2017, the Justice Department entered settlements for two cases related to IRS scrutiny of groups seeking tax-exempt status. The Justice Department led by Attorney General Jeff Sessions went on to say in their public statement, “Department of Justice has entered into settlements, pending approval by the district courts, in two cases brought by groups whose tax-exempt status was significantly delayed by the Internal Revenue Service based on inappropriate criteria. The IRS’s use of these criteria as a basis for heightened scrutiny was wrong and should never have occurred. It is improper for the IRS to single out groups for different treatment based on their names or ideological positions. Any entitlement to tax exemption should be based on the activities of the organization and whether they fulfill requirements of the law, not the policy positions adopted by members or the name chosen to reflect those views.”
NBC News reported in May 2023, that Dorothy Brown’s book “The Whiteness of Wealth” laid the groundwork for the IRS’ recent admission that Black people are disproportionately audited. Brown’s book explores how U.S. tax policy contributes to racial wealth disparity by disproportionately impoverishing Black Americans. The author highlights various mechanisms where this occurs, including unequal access to tax breaks and exclusion from certain benefits. The NBC News article goes on to share, “The Internal Revenue Service is increasingly acknowledging the presence of racial bias in the nation’s tax system along with the years of work by pioneering researchers who’ve spent years highlighting the issue. The agency said Black taxpayers are far more likely to be audited than non-Black ones, exposing them to tax penalties and hefty tax bills with little money left over.”
IRS commissioner Daniel Werfel wrote in a letter to Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. “We are deeply concerned by these findings and committed to doing the work to understand and address any disparate impact of the actions we take,” After researching the demographics of the IRS workforce, according to publicly available data and information, the IRS Black or African American employee data follows: in 2015 25.%, in 2018 26.8%, in 2020 28.2%, 2022 28.5%.
These statistics underscore a complex relationship between the IRS and the Black community. While the agency acknowledges and aims to rectify past disparities, the numbers also illustrate the presence of Black representation within the IRS workforce. The recent layoffs, therefore, raise questions about the potential impact of these efforts and the future of equitable tax administration.
For many, the IRS represents not just a bureaucratic necessity, but a symbol of systemic inequities. The agency’s historical practices, as highlighted by the Justice Department settlements and Dorothy Brown’s research, have contributed to a perception of unfair targeting and disproportionate burdens. The announced layoffs, amid these ongoing concerns, may be viewed by some as a moment of reckoning, a chance to dismantle a system perceived as fundamentally flawed. However, what will come next?
It is important to acknowledge that the IRS serves a critical function in funding essential government services. However, the agency’s history of discriminatory practices has created a deep-seated distrust within certain communities. Whether the layoffs will lead to meaningful reform or exacerbate existing inequalities remains to be seen. What is clear is that the IRS’s actions will continue to be closely scrutinized, particularly by those who have long felt the weight of its perceived injustices.
