Denver workers lose jobs as part of sweeping nationwide layoffs at IRS – The Denver Post
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Trending: Mass layoffs by the Internal Revenue Service across the country impacted dozens of workers in Denver on Thursday.Arlen Rusch, former Internal Revenue Service worker, shows the notice of termination she received after being laid off in downtown Denver on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)The layoffs of roughly 7,000 IRS probationary workers beginning this week likely mean the end of the agency’s plan to go after high-wealth tax dodgers and could spell disaster for revenue collections, experts say.The majority of employees shown the door at the federal tax collector are newly hired workers focused on compliance, which includes ensuring that taxpayers are abiding by the tax code and paying delinquent debts, among other duties.The IRS layoffs, one of the largest purges of probationary workers this year across the government, could also hurt customer service and tax return processing during tax season this year, the union representing Treasury Department employees warned Thursday.The upheaval comes less than two months before the tax filing deadline and as the Department of Government Efficiency under Trump adviser Elon Musk seeks to shrink the size of the federal workforce in an effort to radically cut spending and restructure the government’s priorities.Father of three Donald McCorvey, 41, worked at the Denver IRS office for 11 months as a contact representative for The Small Business/Self-Employed Department.He had was 20 days away from his probationary period ending.McCorvey said employees first learned of the layoffs through the news, but the details were confirmed with a termination email sent that morning. However, most staff did not see the email because they were locked out of their systems.
“You know your heart drops. It races through your head, like, how am I going to support my family? I can just imagine what other people are feeling who also have families that need support or mortgages they need to pay,” McCorvey said.Jodie Malito, 54, was also a contact representative who was laid off Thursday. She began working with the IRS in July 2024 and was shocked when she first heard about the layoffs on the news.Now she is unsure of how she will pay for her mortgage and other needs.“Oh, my God, I could be evicted from my home for not paying my mortgage. I can’t afford it,” she said. “I’m scrambling for another job, because I know unemployment is not going to cut it.”Malito worked in office five days a week and said she chose to work for the IRS to escape the strain of juggling two jobs.She said she worries she may have to go back to working two jobs.Vanessa Williamson, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, said on a Thursday call with reporters that the layoffs at the IRS will disproportionately harm enforcement efforts.“When you underpay and understaff the IRS, the agency doesn’t have the power or the resources it needs to go after wealthy tax evaders with their high priced lawyers,” she said, adding, “The result is, of course, a disaster for revenue.”The Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022, gave the IRS $80 billion and the ability to hire tens of thousands of new employees to help with customer service and enforcement as well as new technology to update the tax collection agency, though congressional Republicans later clawed back some of the money.Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said during his confirmation hearing last month that “we do not have a revenue problem in the United States of America, we have a spending problem.”However, both revenues and spending will be an ongoing point of contention for congressional Republicans, who are trying to come up with how to pay for extending provisions of President Donald Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The Penn Wharton Budget model estimates that permanently extending Trump’s tax cuts would increase deficits by $4 trillion over the next decade.Former Internal Revenue Service workers leave their office after being laid off in downtown Denver on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025. The IRS began laying off roughly 6,000 employees in the middle of tax season as the Trump administration via the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) works to downsize the federal workforce. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)Related Articles
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The IRS leases 125,000 square feet of office space in Denver, accounting for nearly a fifth of the total at the 1999 Broadway tower, according to the General Services Administration. They rank third after the Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for the amount of space the federal government leases in Denver County.The IRS has roughly 90,000 employees across the United States, according to the latest IRS data.The union representing IRS workers has already filed multiple legal challenges over the administration’s mass layoffs.Mark Mazur, a former assistant secretary for tax policy at Treasury, said that since most of the laid-off workers were in the IRS’ small-business and self-employment division, employees who had handled bigger corporate enforcement cases will be forced to stop their work and handle easier small-business cases.“For sure this mean less enforcement activity,” and the deterrence effect of audits will be diminished, he said.The IRS did not respond to the Post for comment regarding the layoffs.The layoffs of roughly 7,000 IRS probationary workers beginning this week likely mean the end of the agency’s plan to go after high-wealth tax dodgers and could spell disaster for revenue collections, experts say.The majority of employees shown the door at the federal tax collector are newly hired workers focused on compliance, which includes ensuring that taxpayers are abiding by the tax code and paying delinquent debts, among other duties.The IRS layoffs, one of the largest purges of probationary workers this year across the government, could also hurt customer service and tax return processing during tax season this year, the union representing Treasury Department employees warned Thursday.The upheaval comes less than two months before the tax filing deadline and as the Department of Government Efficiency under Trump adviser Elon Musk seeks to shrink the size of the federal workforce in an effort to radically cut spending and restructure the government’s priorities.Father of three Donald McCorvey, 41, worked at the Denver IRS office for 11 months as a contact representative for The Small Business/Self-Employed Department.He had was 20 days away from his probationary period ending.McCorvey said employees first learned of the layoffs through the news, but the details were confirmed with a termination email sent that morning. However, most staff did not see the email because they were locked out of their systems.“You know your heart drops. It races through your head, like, how am I going to support my family? I can just imagine what other people are feeling who also have families that need support or mortgages they need to pay,” McCorvey said.Jodie Malito, 54, was also a contact representative who was laid off Thursday. She began working with the IRS in July 2024 and was shocked when she first heard about the layoffs on the news.Now she is unsure of how she will pay for her mortgage and other needs.“Oh, my God, I could be evicted from my home for not paying my mortgage. I can’t afford it,” she said. “I’m scrambling for another job, because I know unemployment is not going to cut it.”Malito worked in office five days a week and said she chose to work for the IRS to escape the strain of juggling two jobs.She said she worries she may have to go back to working two jobs.Vanessa Williamson, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, said on a Thursday call with reporters that the layoffs at the IRS will disproportionately harm enforcement efforts.“When you underpay and understaff the IRS, the agency doesn’t have the power or the resources it needs to go after wealthy tax evaders with their high priced lawyers,” she said, adding, “The result is, of course, a disaster for revenue.”The Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022, gave the IRS $80 billion and the ability to hire tens of thousands of new employees to help with customer service and enforcement as well as new technology to update the tax collection agency, though congressional Republicans later clawed back some of the money.Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said during his confirmation hearing last month that “we do not have a revenue problem in the United States of America, we have a spending problem.”However, both revenues and spending will be an ongoing point of contention for congressional Republicans, who are trying to come up with how to pay for extending provisions of President Donald Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The Penn Wharton Budget model estimates that permanently extending Trump’s tax cuts would increase deficits by $4 trillion over the next decade.The IRS leases 125,000 square feet of office space in Denver, accounting for nearly a fifth of the total at the 1999 Broadway tower, according to the General Services Administration. They rank third after the Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for the amount of space the federal government leases in Denver County.The IRS has roughly 90,000 employees across the United States, according to the latest IRS data.The union representing IRS workers has already filed multiple legal challenges over the administration’s mass layoffs.Mark Mazur, a former assistant secretary for tax policy at Treasury, said that since most of the laid-off workers were in the IRS’ small-business and self-employment division, employees who had handled bigger corporate enforcement cases will be forced to stop their work and handle easier small-business cases.“For sure this mean less enforcement activity,” and the deterrence effect of audits will be diminished, he said.The IRS did not respond to the Post for comment regarding the layoffs.Copyright © 2025 MediaNews Group
