Billy Long (r) [2021 file photo]

Today:

IRS Commissioner Billy Long replaced after less than two months
August 8, 20254:18 PM ET
Scott Horsley

The Trump administration is replacing IRS Commissioner Billy Long, less than two months after the former Missouri Congressman took over at the agency. It’s the latest in a string of IRS management shakeups.

A White House spokesman confirmed Long’s ouster, which was first reported by the New York Times. The administration did not offer an immediate explanation for the move, which took IRS staffers by surprise.

For the time being, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will serve as acting commissioner. The IRS churned through four acting commissioners in the early months of the Trump administration before Long was confirmed to the post in mid-June.

Long, who served six terms in the House of Representatives, is an auctioneer with little experience in tax administration.

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At Billy Long’s (r) U.S. Senate confirmation hearing:

Missouri’s Billy Long grilled over donations, tax credits in Senate confirmation hearing
By: Jason Hancock – May 20, 2025 2:28 pm
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U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, who sent Long a 14-page letter questioning his past, repeatedly asked Long about a federal statute prohibiting the president from ordering tax audits on specific people or businesses.

“Is it illegal for the president to instruct the IRS to remove nonprofit status from taxpayers?” Warren asked several times.

“In the first place, he wouldn’t do that,” Long replied.

“That’s not my question, Mr. Long,” Warren said.

A few seconds of back and forth later, Long said he was “going to follow the law,” but that “I’d have to go to the lawyers at the IRS to tell me.”

Warren wasn’t impressed.

“If you think follow the law is you get to make it up on the spot,” she said, “then you don’t get to be the IRS commissioner.”

U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Georgia Democrat, continued the line of questioning later, pressing Long over whether he had previously said he would ignore an order from Trump to audit a taxpayer.

“I think I told you that he wouldn’t do that in the first place,” Long responded, “but if he did, I’d do exactly what you said. So, yes.”
[….]

That’s interesting.

Still on the IRS web site:

Commissioner Billy Long

Billy Long is the 51st Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service. As Commissioner, he presides over the nation’s tax system, which collects approximately $5 trillion in tax revenue each year, generating about 96% of the funding that supports the federal government’s operations. Commissioner Long oversees an agency of approximately 75,000 employees and an annual budget of roughly $11 billion.

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Billy Long (r) [2022 file photo].