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The people said Paul was demoted from his position because he
clashed with the DOGE’s alleged push to share tax information
with multiple agencies. The news also comes as the IRS plans to
institute massive cuts to its workforce.
The IRS is drafting plans to cut its workforce by as much as
half through a mix of layoffs, attrition and incentivized
buyouts as part of the President Donald Trump’s efforts to
shrink the size of the federal workforce. The administration is
closing agencies, laying off nearly all probationary employees
who have not yet gained civil service protection and offering
buyouts to almost all federal employees through a “deferred
resignation program” to quickly reduce the government workforce.
Already, roughly 7,000 probationary IRS employees with roughly
one year or less of service were laid off from the organization
in February.
Paul was named acting chief counsel to the IRS in January,
replacing Marjorie A. Rollinson, and has served in various roles
at the IRS since the late 1980's.
Paul is not the first government official to be demoted after
voicing concern about access to sensitive systems and taxpayer
data.
Government officials across the Treasury Department, the Social
Security Administration and other agencies have seen a wave of
retirements, resignations and demotions for voicing concern
about DOGE access to sensitive systems and taxpayer data.
After 30 years of service, Michelle King, the SSA’s acting
commissioner, stepped down from her role in February after
refusing to provide DOGE access Social Security recipient
information, according to two people familiar with the
official’s departure who were not authorized to discuss the
matter publicly.
“The series of IRS officials who have put the law above their
personal job security join a line of public servants, stretching
back to Treasury and IRS leaders during the Nixon era, who have
resisted unlawful attempts by elected officials to weaponize
taxpayer data and systems,” Chye-Ching Huang, executive director
of the Tax Law Center at New York University School of Law, said
in a statement.
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