Billy Long Is Out As IRS Commissioner After Only

IRS Commissioner Billy Long is being eased out of a place held for only two months and being given an ambassadorship to a yet unnamed nation. There is no phrase on why Long is shifting on, but there are strong indications it could have to do with a poor working relationship between Long and a current Trump favourite, Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent.

Mr. Bessent and Mr. Long had clashed at occasions, three of the people said. Mr. Long had remarked to some colleagues that he had to ask Mr. Bessent for permission for all the things he did at the I.R.S., two of the people said.

Others said Mr. Long had at occasions appeared to get out forward of the I.R.S. and Treasury Department. He told tax practitioners last month that the company’s all-important submitting season would start later than standard next 12 months, a assertion that the I.R.S. later said was untimely.

Secretary Bessent will serve as Acting IRS Commissioner until a alternative is called, as Marco Rubio is unavailable.

Long is a former member of Congress from Missouri’s seventh District, where he has served since 2021. He is a staunch Trump ally and might be most well-known for his 2018 confrontation with Laura Loomer, who was trying to protest during a listening to.

There are some takeaways from this episode.

First, the IRS is a wounded company in turmoil. Long is the seventh commissioner to serve since President Trump’s inauguration. An IRS without management cannot help the administration. 

The IRS is shifting onto a seventh commissioner since Trump took workplace — Billy Long is reportedly set to be nominated to an ambassadorship.

More people have been IRS commissioner in six months under Trump than during all the 2010s. pic.twitter.com/pnN7gGQcFA

— The Recount (@therecount) August 8, 2025

When you add top-level turmoil to a 25 p.c DOGE-related lower in the workforce, you may have an ineffective group at a time when tax coverage is crucial.

Second, if Long was let go because of his working relationship with Bessent, this is a signal that Trump will not be going to tolerate the sometimes comedic dysfunction that plagued his first time period. Trump is slowly but certainly entrusting an interior circle of cupboard secretaries with the facility to form their respective spheres of affect. 

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