Trump Victory Injects Doubt on Future IRS Funding, Enforcement

Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election portends a challenging future for the IRS, potentially gutting its funding and putting the brakes on enforcement campaigns.

With Republicans controlling the White House and Senate, annual IRS appropriations and the tens of billions in supplemental funding from the Democrats’ 2022 tax-and-climate law are expected to be on the chopping block.

Funding of the IRS tends to be a “lightning rod” for Republicans in Congress, said Dave Kautter, federal specialty tax leader for RSM US LLP. Kautter was assistant Treasury secretary for tax policy during the Trump administration.

Though Trump didn’t speak ...