Fact-checking Burgum’s 87,000 IRS agent stat
This is … what we call, a zombie stat. It’s Mostly False.
![PHOTO: Truth-o-meter showing "mostly false."](https://i.abcnewsfe.com/a/8fd6697d-02a7-43a2-be13-99521d3d5cdc/tom_ruling_mostlyfalse_1692394646303_hpEmbed_9x8.jpg)
The Biden administration never proposed hiring 87,000 additional or new IRS agents.
This 87,000 figure comes from a May 2021 Treasury Department assessment of how it would use $80 billion to improve IRS operations. The report said the IRS would add 86,852 new full-time positions.
But even in the 2021 plan, not all of the hires would be auditors, or work in enforcement. The report said the money would go toward many things, including "hiring new specialized enforcement staff, modernizing antiquated information technology, and investing in meaningful taxpayer service."
Although the agency’s staff would increase, it’s key to note that over half of the IRS workforce is close to retirement. The plan was created with that exodus in mind and aims to hire thousands of people to simply maintain current levels. Today, the IRS has about 80,000 employees.
"The IRS will lose about 50,000 people over the next five or six years," said Natasha Sarin, Treasury’s counselor for tax policy and implementation. "A lot of this hiring is about replacing those people."
-Aaron Sharockman, PolitiFact