Billy Long Can Now Boast He’s the Fastest IRS Commissioner Dropout in History

Posted on by Going Concern News Desk
Exterior of IRS building in Washington DC

As you may have heard, former auctioneer and now former IRS commissioner Billy Long is going, going, gone from his post. When reporting the news on Friday afternoon, Washington Post said their sources told them Trump administration officials “forced” him out and tied it to a DHS request for data related to 40,000 people DHS thinks are here illegally. WaPo said:

The Internal Revenue Service clashed with the White House over using tax data to help locate suspected undocumented immigrants hours before Trump administration officials forced IRS Commissioner Billy Long from his post Friday, according to two people familiar with the situation.

The Department of Homeland Security sent the IRS a list Thursday of 40,000 names of people DHS officials thought were in the country illegally and asked the IRS to use confidential taxpayer data to verify their addresses, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

Billy Long was sworn in on July 16, 2025. Meaning he lasted less than two months. Curious if this is in fact the shortest tenure of an IRS commish, we went digging. Luckily the IRS has a page listing the shortest — and longest — kings and queens of Internal Revenue.

NameTenureDates
Robert E. Hannegan3 months, 14 days10/9/1943 — 1/22/1944 
William Orton4 months 7/1/1865 — 10/31/1865 
Alfred Pleasonton7 months, 6 days 1/3/1871 — 8/8/1871
George S. Boutwell7 months, 16 days 7/17/1862 — 3/4/1863 
Shirley D. Peterson 11 months, 18 days2/3/1992 — 1/20/1993 

Yeah, they’re going to need to update that. Anyone else really curious about the backstories on some of these people?

It’s still unclear if he was actually forced out and how much of this is related to the DHS request but it doesn’t appear as though the Trump administration totally hates the guy since he’s been nominated to serve as ambassador to Iceland. Maybe that’s a punishment, we don’t know.

We also should note that yesterday was Long’s 70th birthday. Hard to say if leaving the top spot at the fragmented and cash-strapped current day IRS is actually a gift.

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Filthy Rich Guy Loses Fight with IRS, Remains Filthy Rich

Phil Anschutz, like most multi-billionaires, didn’t get rich being a passive dude. Case in point, Mr Anschutz just lost a battle with the IRS over $143.8 million in capital gains taxes that the Service argues he and his company, Anschutz, Co. owed for for transactions related to Union Pacific and Anadarko Petroleum.

According to Forbes’ latest Billionaire list, Phil is worth $6 billion. Before you reach for your 10-key, we’ll just tell you – this little capital gain issue amounts to less than 2.5% of his net worth.


In a similar vein, these transactions occurred in 2000 and 2001 so this particular battle is entering it’s second decade if you consider the birth of the transaction that gave life to the IRS’ beef.

Yes, he’s appealing ruling. See you in another 10 years.

Billionaire Anschutz Loses Capital Gains Ruling Over $144 Million Tax Bill [Bloomberg]

Layoff Watch ’11: The IRS Says Tomato

You may have heard some carefully coiffed pols shouting about the need for our government to “cut spending.” If you’re a Republican, this means everything is fair game with the exception of the defense budget. For Dems, it’s entitlements. Since these two sacred cows of the federal budget dare not be touched, all the stuff in between is on the chopping block. One of the easier areas of government for pols to offer up for sacrifice is the Treasury Department, specifically the IRS. Because GOD KNOWS we don’t need “a goon squad 5,000 IRS agents tromping around the country.”

It appears that all the budget thumping has worked and the IRS is looking for volunteers to help move this along:

The Internal Revenue Service has offered buyouts to 5,400 employees as it begins preparing for a likely budget cut of more than 3 percent.

The agency, which had 94,711 workers in fiscal 2010, plans to accept no more than 1,600 buyout applications. A second round of buyouts could follow. The Obama administration has said that as many as 4,000 IRS jobs could be cut over the next year, including some that would reduce tax enforcement and collections.

“This is really focused on trying to deal with the current budget situation and the uncertainty that we’re facing at this point in time,” Beth Tucker, deputy IRS commissioner for operations support, said in an interview today.

IRS officials directed the first round of buyout offers to back-office employees who don’t interact with taxpayers. A potential second set of cuts would affect “a wider range of employees who deal directly with taxpayers in service and enforcement matters,” commissioner Douglas Shulman wrote in a Nov. 4 memo to employees.

First off, putting 4,000 people out of work won’t make for a balanced budget. Secondly, I’m not saying these “buyouts” are actually “layoffs” but if you consider the fact that these “buyouts” include current employees will receive money and not be required to report to their cubicles EVER AGAIN sounds pretty similar to how “layoffs” work. Maybe it’s just me.

IRS Offers Buyouts to 5,400 Employees [Bloomberg]