Political Thrashing Around Acting Commissioners and Commissioner of Internal Revenue (4/18/25; 4/19/25)

I thought I was through posting for the day and even for a few days. But this new item popped up. Jonathan Swan, Andrew Duehren, Alan Rappeport and Maggie Haberman, Head of I.R.S. Being Ousted Amid Treasury’s Power Struggle With Elon Musk (NYT 4/18/25), here. I think readers should be able to read the article, but if not a free article of some of the same content is Katherine Doyle, Trump is replacing the acting IRS commissioner, part of a dispute between treasury and Elon Musk (NBC News 4/18/25), here.

President Trump nominated a political actor, William Hollis Long II (“Billy”), Wikipedia here, but he has yet to have confirmation hearings. As the articles note, there has been some thrashing around in the “Acting” leadership in the IRS because of political meddling by Trump and his sycophants. I don’t propose to go into that.

The statute requires that the Commissioner have “demonstrated ability in management.”  § 7803(a)(1)(A), here. I would think that, by reasonable inference, Acting Commissioners should also meet that requirement. Hence, in the past Acting Commissioners were often drawn from high level Executive IRS officers who have demonstrated ability in management. Melanie Krause, Wikipedia here, former Acting who left a couple of days ago, had such demonstrated ability. She was replaced by Gary Shapley, one of the “whistleblowers” on the IRS investigation (conducted with the USAO Delaware) of Hunter Biden. It was never clear to me that Mr. Shapley had any such “demonstrated ability in management.” Nor, is it evident that Mr. Long, a former auctioneer and U.S. Representative, has such “demonstrated ability in management.”

Trump may have appointed Mr. Long to create further dysfunction in the IRS, so lack of management skills may be the whole point. Still, I would think that someone who is both smart and with management skills could do a better job of wrecking the IRS.

Trump’s First Term Commissioner was Charles P. (“Chuck”) Rettig, Wikipedia here. I know Chuck and like him a lot. I was not aware of his demonstrated ability in management, but I did know him to be a very smart, competent, and experienced tax attorney with great people skills. From what I can determine, he did a great job as Commissioner. By contrast, I have no reason to believe that Billy Long brings those characteristics, much less management skills, to the job for which he has been appointed. Maybe with his auctioneer skills, he can sell off the outsourcing of the IRS to the highest bidder (perhaps Musk).

Update on 4/19/25 @ 3:45pm: The President has named Michael Faulkender, Deputy Secretary of Treasurer, as the Acting Commissioner of Internal Revenue to act until the Presidential nominee (currently Billly Long, the auctioneer) is approved by the Senate. Faulkener's Wikipedia page is here. It is not apparent from the Wikipedia description that Faulkender has “demonstrated ability in management,” although he certainly appears to be a smart and capable person and likely can meet the demands of the office. 

In terms of credentials and apparent mental firepower, Faulkender stands head and shoulders over the immediately preceding Acting Commission, Gary Shapley, Wikipedia here, who lasted just a few days in office and whose only claim to prominence was that, as an IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent, he blew the whistle on claimed mismanagement of the Delaware U.S. Attorney’s investigation of Hunter Biden. Having blown the whistle on matters that implicate Joe Biden, Shapley became the darling of the conservatives and particularly Donald J. Trump, who hates Joe Biden with a passion. It was not clear to me how Shapley remotely qualified for the position of Acting Commissioner of Internal Revenue. Of course, as I noted above, it is not clear to me how the nominee for Commissioner, Billy Long, the auctioneer, remotely qualifies.