Senate GOP Confirms Billy Long, an Anti-IRS Extremist, as Agency’s Chief

Today, the Senate’s GOP majority confirmed former Congressman Billy Long as IRS Chief, despite his past support for abolishing the agency and replacing the federal income tax with a regressive national sales tax. Just yesterday, Senator Wyden sent a letter to the White House raising concerns about inadequate vetting of Long’s background—particularly multiple high-profile corruption allegations, including Long’s involvement in a major bribery controversy with a large healthcare company.

“Trump and Senate Republicans finally delivered a long-awaited return on investment to the billionaire backers that fund their party: an IRS Chief with extreme views on tax policy and no interest in reining in wealthy tax cheats or helping working families. It’s alarming that a nominee with so many clear-cut, publicly visible instances of potential fraud or corruption was able to get the votes of Senate Republicans to become the lead administrator of our country’s tax system,” said David Kass, ATF’s Executive Director. “Long—who once co-sponsored legislation to abolish the agency he now leads—is sending a clear signal to wealthy tax cheats everywhere that Trump’s IRS will serve the wealthy and well-connected at the expense of working and middle-class families. With Long at the helm, it becomes even more critical to stop Trump’s disastrous tax bill that cuts critical programs Americans depend on, like Medicaid and SNAP, to fund massive tax giveaways for billionaires.”

For more information on Billy Long’s tax positions, please see our recent report analyzing his positions on tax issues in Congress. The report examines his support for eliminating estate and federal income taxes in favor of a national sales tax—a policy that would raise consumer prices while giving substantial tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy.