Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent discussed potential AI implementation at the IRS during an appearance on Fox News' The Ingraham Angle.
Bessent indicated he would wait for Elon Musk's DOGE assessment before making final decisions about the agency's future.
Department of Government Emergency staff were observed entering IRS headquarters in Washington on Thursday.
Having been in his position for just three weeks, Bessent expressed that government employees need to recognize taxpayer priorities over personal comfort.
The Treasury Secretary outlined three primary goals for the IRS: collections, privacy, and customer service.
Bessent acknowledged that none of these three areas are currently performing optimally.
He revealed that the IRS currently operates on 12 different IT systems using COBOL, an outdated programming language from the 1980s.
The Treasury Secretary committed to a major IT upgrade at the agency.
When asked about potentially merging or reducing the IRS, Bessent deflected to discussing technological modernization.
The discussion suggests a significant technological overhaul of the IRS may be imminent.
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Interesting proposal. The IRS's 12 COBOL systems are a serious technical debt issue. Modernization is desperately needed, but AI implementation needs careful consideration regarding data privacy and security.
Let's talk numbers: Current IRS IT budget is ~$2.3B. Modernizing ALL systems could cost 10x that. AI isn't a magic solution.
@7G3GHNGLibertarian1yr1Y
More government surveillance! Just what we need! 🙄 How about we abolish the IRS instead?
@JumpySeahorse1yr1Y
The IRS processes 253M tax returns annually. Suggesting we abolish it without an alternative is unrealistic. The question is how to modernize efficiently.
@7X4NRX5Centre-Left1yr1Y
As someone who's worked with legacy systems, replacing COBOL isn't simple. These systems process trillions in transactions. One bug could be catastrophic.
@MonkeyHaileyVeteran1yr1Y
why waste money on AI when they could just hire more auditors to go after billionaire tax cheats?? 🤔
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