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Inside the IRS Meltdown: How DOGE Is Exposing 35 Years of Waste and Inertia

Published

March 21, 2025

A revelation about the state of the IRS has captured public attention. A key Treasury official and a DOGE insider exposed decades of dysfunction in an exclusive interview on The Ingraham Angle. The segment laid bare inefficiencies, wasted taxpayer dollars, and a disconnect between leadership and those doing the work.

“Deeply entrenched interests have prevented agencies like the IRS from modernization for decades,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. “The Trump Administration is focused on removing blockers and driving real efficiency so we can focus on collections, privacy, and customer service.”

Joining Bessent was Sam Corcos, a DOGE adviser at Treasury and a tech entrepreneur. His job is to review the IRS’s modernization program. What he discovered was stunning. The system is 35 years behind schedule and already $15 billion over budget.

“The IRS system was supposed to be delivered in 1996,” Bessent said. “But it was started in 1990. That’s how far behind they are, and nobody cares.”

DOGE vs. the IRS: A System Stuck in the Past

DOGE is a group of technologists and reformers brought in to overhaul outdated systems. Critics have targeted them, but Corcos’s experience shows the real problem is government inertia.

“We process about the same amount of data as a midsize bank,” Corcos explained. “A midsize bank has 100 to 200 people in IT and a $20 million budget. The IRS? It has 8,000 IT employees and a $3.5 billion operations and maintenance budget. I don’t really know why yet.”

That wasn’t all. Corcos said 80 percent of that budget goes to contractors and software licenses. Despite this, the agency still runs on COBOL and assembly code.

“Virtually every bank has already transitioned off these old mainframe systems,” he said. “This should have taken a few years and a few hundred million dollars. Instead, we’re 35 years in and billions over budget.”

Entrenched Interests and a Culture of Inertia

DOGE advisers have found billions in waste just by asking questions.

“You find contracts that are 10, 20, 30, 50 million dollars,” Corcos explained. “You ask, why are we doing this? Everyone says, I don’t know. Then you cancel it—and nothing happens. Inertia has just taken over.”

Bessent confirmed the scale of the issue. “These entrenched interests keep constricting themselves around the power, the money, and the systems. Nobody cares.”

What Comes Next?

This interview struck a nerve with the public. It confirmed what many taxpayers have long suspected. Government inefficiency isn’t rare—it’s systemic.

Corcos and Bessent emphasized that reform is possible. But only if the right people are empowered.

“We actually have quite a lot of software talent inside the agency,” Corcos said. “When I ask them how to solve problems, they’re almost always right. They just haven’t had the power to act.”

Washington must decide. Will it act on this wake-up call, or let dysfunction continue?

Watch the full segment [here] and decide for yourself.