AUSTIN (KXAN) — The union president for Austin IRS workers spoke to KXAN about the layoffs impacting thousands nationwide.
The agency will let go of roughly 7,000 workers around the country, including some in Central Texas. Austin is home to one of the few IRS centers in the country.
President of the National Treasury Employees Union Austin Chapter, Eddie Walker, said he’s heard from local IRS workers let go this week.
Walker told KXAN one employee who was laid off left a job of 13 years to join the IRS.
“Tuesday, one group of people, probationary employees, were told they were fired and to come in the next day with all their equipment and return their laptops and everything else,” Walker said. “On Wednesday, they got to another group of people and told them the same thing.”
So far, the layoffs impacted those with roughly one year or less at the agency and largely include workers in compliance departments. Compliance work includes ensuring taxpayers abide by the tax code, file their returns and pay their taxes.
“Most of the time, it’s a question of just settling what could be an issue. You may owe less than you think you owe or you might get put on some kind of payment plan that kind of makes more sense out of your life and takes a lot of the pressure off you,” Walker said. “That’s the other side of the coin when you talk about compliance employees.”
Walker didn’t have an exact number for how many people were laid off in Central Texas, but he believe it’s in the hundreds.
He expects that number to continue to increase as managers prepare for more layoffs to come.
Shrinking the federal workforce
These layoffs are part of a wider initiative of the Trump administration to shrink the size of the federal workforce through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“There should be no secret about the fact that this administration is committed to cutting waste, fraud, and abuse,” said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Here in Austin, Walker said hundreds of former IRS workers will flood the job market as they try to land back on their feet.
“These, first of all, are people who can get trained in programs that are difficult,” Walker said.
