<div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-0"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Beth Crowell was proud to work for the Internal Revenue Service.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">She had spent much of her career as an accountant for large corporations, gaining intimate knowledge about how they do — and sometimes don’t — pay the taxes they owe. Working for the I.R.S. in Colorado, she hoped to put her skills to a new use. She wanted to help collect more money for the federal government.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Not long after joining last July, she had her chance. Ms. Crowell, 64, joined a team that had started an audit of a company earning roughly $3 billion a year. The I.R.S. had never examined the firm before, Ms. Crowell said, because the agency hadn’t had enough employees with the skills for such complex cases. “They’re a large multinational company, and it is not a normal thing to not have been examined,” she said, declining to name the firm.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">By hiring Ms. Crowell and thousands of other experienced tax professionals like her last year, the I.R.S. was trying to fill those gaps and rebuild its ability to enforce tax laws after years of decay. The effort was expected to help the United States recoup billions in additional tax revenue.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Then the layoffs started. With Trump administration targeting recent hires across the government, the terminations hit particularly hard in Ms. Crowell’s division, large business and international. Of the more than 7,000 people laid off from the I.R.S. so far, roughly half worked in her department.</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div><div data-testid="Dropzone-1"></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-1"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">As a result, the I.R.S. may struggle even more with its basic mission of collecting taxes. Work-intensive investigations into large businesses and rich Americans could decline, a drop in enforcement that would add to the deficit even as Elon Musk says his team is helping narrow it.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">The audit Ms. Crowell was in the middle of conducting is now adrift. Five of the nine people working on it, including Ms. Crowell, were laid off. What she called a slam-dunk case for the I.R.S. may not be finished.</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div><div data-testid="InteractiveBlock-3"><section class="interactive-content interactive-size-scoop css-kqcwdy" data-id="100000010033603" data-source-id="100000010033603" data-testid="inline-interactive" id="federal-workers"><header class="css-obecq5 interactive-header" id="interactive-header"><h2 class="css-4hk76s interactive-headline" id="interactive-headline">Are you a federal worker? We want to hear from you.</h2><p class="css-1qa9noj interactive-leadin" data-testid="leadin" id="interactive-leadin">The Times would like to hear about your experience as a federal worker under the second Trump administration. We may reach out about your submission, but we will not publish any part of your response without contacting you first.</p></header><div class="css-17ih8de interactive-body" data-sourceid="100000010033603" id="embed-id-100000010033603" slug="federal-workers"> <cript>window.registerInteractive && window.registerInteractive("100000010033603");</script> <cript> const metas = document.getElementsByTagName("meta") for (let i = 0; i < metas.length; i++) { if ([].includes( metas[i].getAttribute('content') + '' ) ) { const el = document.getElementById("federal-workers"); const header = el.querySelector('header.interactive-header'); header.style.display = 'none' } } </script> <div data-formdata='{"fields":[{"isRequired":false,"readOnly":false,"helperText":null,"deletable":true,"fieldType":"CurtainField","renderType":"curtain","_id":46196,"id":46196,"attributeSlug":"f8vvmh3oy8qo_curtain","primaryText":"","secondaryText":null,"isNew":false,"hidden":false,"text":"Continue"},{"isRequired":true,"readOnly":false,"helperText":"","deletable":true,"fieldType":"TextInputField","renderType":"text","_id":46179,"id":46179,"attributeSlug":"fy5r366qwkd_text","primaryText":"Which federal agency or department do you work in?","secondaryText":"","isNew":false,"hidden":false,"inputType":"text","textInput":""},{"isRequired":false,"readOnly":false,"helperText":null,"deletable":true,"fieldType":"TextAreaField","renderType":"paragraph","_id":46184,"id":46184,"attributeSlug":"fx6s2ttc3fb_paragraph","primaryText":"Tell us a little bit about your role.","secondaryText":null,"isNew":false,"hidden":false,"rows":10,"textArea":"","lengthUnit":""},{"isRequired":false,"readOnly":false,"helperText":null,"deletable":true,"fieldType":"TextAreaField","renderType":"paragraph","_id":46185,"id":46185,"attributeSlug":"fnpt9gjj094k_paragraph","primaryText":"What changes, if any, have you seen within your workplace during the Trump administration?","secondaryText":null,"isNew":false,"hidden":false,"rows":10,"textArea":"","lengthUnit":""},{"isRequired":false,"readOnly":false,"helperText":"","deletable":true,"fieldType":"IdentityTextField","renderType":"text","_id":46180,"id":46180,"attributeSlug":"fd3udkbkmle_name_identity","primaryText":"What is your name?","secondaryText":"","isNew":false,"hidden":false},{"isRequired":false,"readOnly":false,"helperText":"Email field is required for all forms because of data governance regulations. Only one email field can be added per form. If you need to ask for multiple email addresses, please use the generic Identity field.","deletable":false,"fieldType":"EmailField","renderType":"text","_id":46181,"id":46181,"attributeSlug":"fjtrb7nngo3p_email_identity","primaryText":"What is your email address?","secondaryText":"","isNew":false,"hidden":false},{"isRequired":false,"readOnly":false,"helperText":null,"deletable":true,"fieldType":"TextInputField","renderType":"text","_id":46183,"id":46183,"attributeSlug":"fmth07hq4g7n_text","primaryText":"How would you like us to contact you?","secondaryText":"If you prefer to be contacted some other way (such as by phone or Signal), please let us know here.","isNew":false,"hidden":false},{"isRequired":false,"readOnly":false,"helperText":null,"deletable":true,"fieldType":"TextAreaField","renderType":"paragraph","_id":46195,"id":46195,"attributeSlug":"frrrbz41av7_paragraph","primaryText":"Anything else we need to know?","secondaryText":null,"isNew":false,"hidden":false,"rows":10,"textArea":"","lengthUnit":""}],"isOpen":true,"closedMessage":"We are no longer accepting submissions.","thanksMessage":"Thank you for your submission.","mediaExportEnabled":false,"mediaExportSlug":null,"documentUploadsEnabled":false,"reply_to_email":"sources@nytimes.com","sourcepoolOptin":false,"retentionPeriod":"1","name":"Are you a federal worker? We want to hear from you.","headline":"Are you a federal worker? We want to hear from you.","slug":"federal-workers","createdBy":"urvashi.uberoy@nytimes.com","scoopAssetId":"100000010033603","sheetSyncEnabled":null,"exportIdentityFields":null,"exportTags":null,"sheetSyncSpreadsheetId":null,"autoReplyBlastId":"","addendum":"You can also submit information to us using our &lt;a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/tips\"&gt;tips page.&lt;/a&gt;","switchboardFieldSlug":null,"id":8008}' data-host="www.nytimes.com" data-reader-facing-places-api-key="AIzaSyD18AYwwKzbkCE5iHLGDY4qMXaBaIkMIBg" data-transloadit-id="a1ed58c066d211e5a6ee236a7c31b84b" data-transloadit-signature="6d0f2cdf7ef5011a19f40f3a74b9ccb6b018cef4" id="formpreview"></div> <link href="https://int.nyt.com/apps/attribute-newsapp/assets/interactive/Embedded/client/client.5db9c2ce.css" rel="stylesheet"/><cript src="https://int.nyt.com/apps/attribute-newsapp/assets/interactive/Embedded/client/client.e512bcaf.js"></script> </div></section></div><div data-testid="Optimistic-4"><div class="css-1336jj"><div class="css-121kum4"><div class="css-171quhb"></div><div class="css-asuuk5"><noscript><div class="css-7axq9l" data-testid="optimistic-truncator-noscript"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="css-1b5b8u1" height="24" viewbox="0 0 24 24" width="24"><path clip-rule="evenodd" d="M2.5 12a9.5 9.5 0 1 1 19 0 9.5 9.5 0 0 1-19 0Zm8.5 1.75v-7.5h2v7.5h-2Zm0 2v2h2v-2h-2Z" fill="currentColor" fill-rule="evenodd"></path></svg><div class="css-6yo1no" data-testid="optimistic-truncator-noscript-message"><p class="css-3kpklk">We are having trouble retrieving the article content.</p><p class="css-3kpklk">Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.</p></div></div></noscript><div class="css-1dv1kvn" id="optimistic-truncator-a11y" tabindex="-1"><hr/><p>Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and <a href="https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&amp;client_id=vi&amp;redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2025%2F03%2F10%2Fus%2Fpolitics%2Firs-taxes-trump-musk-federal-workers.html&amp;asset=opttrunc">log into</a> your Times account, or <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&amp;redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2025%2F03%2F10%2Fus%2Fpolitics%2Firs-taxes-trump-musk-federal-workers.html">subscribe</a> for all of The Times.</p><hr/></div><div class="css-1g71tqy"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="css-63woee" data-testid="optimistic-truncator-spinner" height="24" viewbox="0 0 24 24" width="24"><g fill="currentColor"><path d="M11.28 22.8a.72.72 0 1 0 1.44 0v-6.72a.72.72 0 1 0-1.44 0v6.72Z" opacity=".37"></path><path d="M17.766 21.16a.72.72 0 1 0 1.165-.846l-3.95-5.436a.72.72 0 1 0-1.165.846l3.95 5.437Z" opacity=".26"></path><path d="M1.506 14.653a.72.72 0 0 0 .445 1.37l6.391-2.078a.72.72 0 1 0-.445-1.369l-6.39 2.077Z" opacity=".61"></path><path d="M5.07 20.314a.72.72 0 0 0 1.164.847l3.95-5.437a.72.72 0 1 0-1.165-.846l-3.95 5.436Z" opacity=".48"></path><path d="M22.049 16.022a.72.72 0 0 0 .445-1.37l-6.391-2.076a.72.72 0 1 0-.445 1.37l6.39 2.076Z" opacity=".17"></path><path d="M22.494 9.347a.72.72 0 1 0-.445-1.37l-6.391 2.078a.72.72 0 1 0 .445 1.369l6.39-2.077Z" opacity=".09"></path><path d="M6.234 2.84a.72.72 0 0 0-1.165.846l3.95 5.436a.72.72 0 0 0 1.165-.846l-3.95-5.437Z" opacity=".87"></path><path d="M1.951 7.978a.72.72 0 1 0-.445 1.37l6.391 2.076a.72.72 0 1 0 .445-1.37l-6.39-2.076Z" opacity=".74"></path><path d="M18.93 3.686a.72.72 0 0 0-1.164-.847l-3.95 5.437a.72.72 0 0 0 1.165.846l3.95-5.436Z" opacity=".02"></path><path d="M12.72 1.2a.72.72 0 1 0-1.44 0v6.72a.72.72 0 0 0 1.44 0V1.2Z"></path></g></svg><div class="css-6yo1no" data-testid="optimistic-truncator-message"><p class="css-3kpklk">Thank you for your patience while we verify access.</p><p class="css-3kpklk">Already a subscriber? <a class="css-z5ryv4" data-testid="log-in-link" href="https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&amp;client_id=vi&amp;redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2025%2F03%2F10%2Fus%2Fpolitics%2Firs-taxes-trump-musk-federal-workers.html&amp;asset=opttrunc">Log in</a>.</p><p class="css-3kpklk">Want all of The Times? <a class="css-z5ryv4" data-testid="subscribe-link" href="https://www.nytimes.com/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&amp;redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2025%2F03%2F10%2Fus%2Fpolitics%2Firs-taxes-trump-musk-federal-workers.html">Subscribe</a>.</p></div></div></div></div></div></div>