IRS Commissioner Pick Gets Cash From Tribal Credit Promoters

The man tapped by President Donald Trump to be the next IRS commissioner saw a boost in first-quarter campaign donations, some of which came from donors who list their employers as firms that have promoted tax credits the Treasury Department and IRS have said don’t exist.

Former Rep. Billy Long (R-Mo.), who retired from Congress in 2023 after an unsuccessful bid for one of Missouri’s Senate seats, saw a resurgence of donations to his Senate campaign coffers, even though he hasn’t been on any ballot in three years. He pulled in nearly $137,000 during the first quarter, which he used to repay $130,000 in personal loans he made to the campaign, according to Federal Election Commission disclosures documents.

Trump said at the end of 2024 he intended to nominate Long for the top IRS post.

Multiple of Long’s $2,000-plus donors listed their employers as Nepsis, Inc., White River Energy Corp. and Lifetime Advisors, which have promoted dubious tax credits.

Senate Finance Committee member Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) asked the IRS to start a criminal investigation into those firms and others that have promoted so-called sovereign tribal tax credits. They said Long’s connection to the promoters is “deeply disturbing.”

Long earned income from White River, according to his ethics filings, and had publicly promoted other credits through Lifetime.

White River this week called the investigation request an attempt to sabotage Long’s nomination.

Long couldn’t be reached via the Office of Personnel Management, where he is an adviser while he awaits a Senate confirmation hearing.

“This scheme is textbook pay-to-play corruption, and it should immediately disqualify him from running the very agency tasked with holding tax cheats accountable,” said Tiffany Muller, president of End Citizens United, which works to elect Democrats who support overhauling campaign finance law.

Cortez Masto said in a social media post Thursday that Long’s nomination should be withdrawn because of the donors.