"A wrecking ball and destroying people’s lives for no reason.”

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/25883319

Summary

IRS worker Robert McCabe, a Trump voter, expressed shock after being among 7,000 laid off by DOGE, an initiative under the Trump administration led by Elon Musk.

McCabe stated DOGE is acting like a “wrecking ball and destroying people’s lives for no reason.”

The layoffs, targeting probationary employees with less than a year of service, affect hundreds at the IRS and are part of a broader effort to shrink the federal workforce.

The cuts raise concerns about impacts on tax collection during a critical season.

  • subignition
    29•1 day ago

    The IRS is a good thing. It was starting to go in a better direction re: having increasing resources and capability to audit wealthier entities before this admin.

    • @[email protected]English
      -30•1 day ago

      Is it reasonable to grow the enforcement bureaucracy ad infinitum in order to keep pace with an exponentially more complicated tax code, or might we be better off simplifying things a little?

      • subignition
        32•1 day ago

        That is a false dichotomy. There is no reason not to simplify the tax code and close loopholes while also ensuring the IRS has the resources it needs to adequately hold wealthier taxpayers accountable. Please participate in good faith.

        • @[email protected]English
          -34•1 day ago

          Rumblings from Trumpland (and the odd post from Musk) point to the long-term goal being a vastly simplified tax code and commensurately smaller IRS.

          Biden seemed content to keep hiring more IRS agents.

          • subignition
            22•1 day ago

            Are you really saying you’re taking their word for it? You make that new account just to troll?

            • @[email protected]English
              -25•1 day ago

              Trump’s been pretty loud about the External Revenue Service eventually supplanting the IRS.

              If you don’t think he’s serious about tariffs, you aren’t paying attention.

              • subignition
                2•12 hours ago

                Tariffs aren’t external revenue. They’re paid by the importer/consumer of the foreign goods (i.e. within the United States.) For starters, the current and proposed tariffs come nowhere close to the amount of money needed to replace income taxes. In addition, if the tariffs successfully discourage American consumers from buying products that they apply to, the money generated by the tariffs also drops even further…

                Really it doesn’t hold up to any scrutiny at all if you think about it even a little bit. To champion it like you’re doing… at best, you have no understanding of the mechanisms being discussed, and you’re believing their lies hook, line, and sinker. At worst, you are doing a poor job of trolling or are deliberately spreading propaganda. And given you know how to type, it’s very sad that you don’t know better, because you should.

              • TheTechnician27MEnglish
                17•1 day ago

                Damn, someone reported this as trolling because this line of reasoning that you can supplant the IRS through tariffs is legitimately that stupid. Your moderator-approved punishment is that this comment will remain up so other people can see your brain dying in real time.

                • @[email protected]English
                  -14•1 day ago

                  For much (most?) of our history federal income came exclusively from tariffs, and the President is very fond of evoking that era. It would not be unprecedented for it to happen again.

                  Can’t argue with the moderation given the slant of this community (I landed here from “All”), but I continue to maintain I’ve been posting in good faith.

                  Have a blessed day.

              • @jacksilverEnglish
                11•1 day ago

                So for reference, right now more than half the US doesn’t pay income tax due to not making enough. With the External Revenue Service, everyone is going to start paying those taxes through higher prices.

                So Trumps plan, as is usually the case is to push the tax burden on lower income households and decrease taxes for the wealthy.