In a quiet yet stunning blow to America’s already fragile tax system, the Internal Revenue Service has just lost nearly a third of its revenue agents — the very auditors tasked with making sure the rich and powerful actually pay their fair share. That’s right. Roughly 31% of IRS auditors are gone, and no, this didn’t happen over the course of years — it happened in just the first three months of 2025.
Think about that. In a country $37 trillion in debt, with a broken Congress and a government addicted to wasting your hard-earned dollars, the agency responsible for collecting the cash has basically gutted its enforcement team. And barely anyone’s talking about it.
The mass exodus was driven by a combination of early retirement buyouts and good old-fashioned layoffs, part of a “cost-cutting” effort from the so-called Department of Government Efficiency — affectionately nicknamed “DOGE.” But here’s the dirty little secret: cutting IRS auditors isn’t saving taxpayers money. It’s likely costing us billions.
Why? Because these aren’t the folks chasing down everyday Americans for a few hundred bucks. The ones who walked out the door were the experts — the specialists responsible for auditing billionaires, massive corporations, and those slippery tax shelters the ultra-wealthy love to hide behind. Some divisions, like those focused on tax-exempt organizations, high-net-worth individuals, and large business audits, lost up to 38% of their people.
Let that sink in. At a time when the working class is drowning in inflation, gas prices are squeezing families, and food costs have gone through the roof, Washington has quietly made it easier for the ultra-rich to slip through the cracks. Convenient, isn’t it?
And where’s the outrage? The same politicians who promise to hold the wealthy accountable are either asleep at the wheel or complicit. Meanwhile, the American people — Catholics included — are left footing the bill for wasteful spending, bloated government, and a tax system teetering on the edge.
Here’s the hard truth:
- Over 3,600 auditors gone — nearly a third of the IRS’s audit muscle.
- Billionaire and corporate audits decimated.
- Billions in lost tax revenue looming.
- The working class left exposed.
If you think this doesn’t affect you, think again. Every dollar lost from tax evasion gets replaced with more national debt, higher taxes on honest Americans, or more inflation. It’s time to wake up. This is your money. Your future. Your country.
At Catholic Online News, we’ll keep saying it: government corruption, waste, and manipulation are real. And faithful, hard-working families are paying the price. Enough is enough.
