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Chaos continued to reign supreme at the Internal Revenue Service after President Donald Trump ousted the agency’s interim commissioner only three days after appointing him.
Interim Commissioner Gary Shapley was ousted on Friday, about 72-hours after assuming the role on Tuesday. It’s not entirely clear if Shapley did anything that led to his ouster, but what is clear is that Shapley’s position has become a flashpoint in tensions between Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Elon Musk, the head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), as well as the broader chaos that has swept through critical government institutions since Trump took office in January.
According to a Friday report from The New York Times, Bessent felt Musk had gone behind his back to install Shapley as head of the IRS, despite the agency being under the control of the Treasury Department. Shapley, a longtime IRS agent who had garnered favor in MAGA circles after claiming the Justice Department had slow-walked his investigation into Hunter Biden.
Shapley was the third Interim IRS Commissioner to serve under Trump in less than three months. The first, Douglas O’Donnell, retired less than a month after being named to the position. The second, Melanie Krause, resigned from the position after only about two weeks on the job. According to reporting from various outlets, Krause’s decision to leave the agency came after the Trump administration inked a deal for the IRS to share data with the Department of Homeland security in order to assist in migrant deportation efforts. On Friday, the Trump administration indicated it would likely name Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael Faulkender to succeed Shapley as interim commissioner.
While the revolving door of interim commissioners is already a problem, Trump’s pick to fill the role permanently comes with his own load of baggage. Campaign disclosures obtained by The Lever show that former Republican Rep. Billy Long (R-Mo.) — who Trump tapped to serve as commissioner even before his inauguration — brought in about $137,000 this January in campaign donations for a failed 2022 Senate run. It was quadruple the amount he raised in the past two years, and came after Trump indicated he was considering him for a position within his administration.
The filings also stated that Long had made a previously undisclosed loan of $130,000 to the campaign, and that the campaign donations received in January were used to pay him back. According to The Lever’s investigation, at least a third of the cash came from entities associated with the tax industry, or facing scrutiny over their own finances. After leaving office, Long was accused of promoting dubious — and potentially illegal — tax schemes to various firms and businesses.
Earlier this week, several members of the Senate Finance Committee — where Long’s nomination is being considered — called for “a criminal investigation of promoters involved in a tax evasion scheme selling investors fraudulent ‘tribal tax credits,’ including firms that had close financial ties” to Long.
“Late last year a series of public reports detailed how financial advisers made tens of millions of dollars selling a ‘tribal tax credits’ scheme to investors,” Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) wrote. “As part of this scheme, promoters claimed to investors that they had acquired the rights to sell tax credits granted to federally recognized Native American tribes, and that investors could buy these credits and then use those credits to reduce their tax liability.”
“Promoters involved in this scheme, used the identity and image of Native American tribes without their knowledge to dupe investors into spending millions to purchase fake tax credits,” they added, naming White River Energy Corporation as an example of such companies. “Given IRS Commissioner nominee Billy Long’s direct financial ties to White River and other entities implicated in this scheme, we are concerned that if confirmed Long could undermine enforcement actions related to this fraudulent scheme.”
As a member of the House, Long voted to abolish the IRS. It has not yet been announced when Long’s nomination will be up for a vote before the finance committee, but what is undisputed is that if confirmed, his tenure is likely to bring more chaos to the already embattled agency.
As it stands now, Trump is cycling through acting commissioners faster than Spinal Tap was forced to replace its drummers.
