Musk’s DOGE exec claims $1.5 billion savings from IRS technology budget

DOGE, the Trump administration-backed government spending watchdog has led to the cancellation of $1.5 billion in technology contracts from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) budget, according to an executive involved in the review. 

Sam Corcos, CEO of health technology firm Levels and a special adviser to the Treasury, announced on Thursday that he has identified and eliminated significant IRS contracts with external consultants. These contracts were part of a decades-long effort to modernize the agency’s outdated technology infrastructure.

Deeply entrenched interests have prevented agencies like the @IRS from modernization for decades. The Trump Administration is focused on removing blockers and driving real efficiency so we can focus on collections, privacy and customer service.
 @SamCorcos and I sat down… pic.twitter.com/Irl3Vaq99N

— Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent (@SecScottBessent) March 21, 2025

“I think we’ve so far stopped work and cut about $1.5 billion from the modernization budget, mostly projects that were putting us down this death spiral of complexity in our code base,” Corcos said in an interview with Fox News.

DOGE sees through IRS budgetary cuts

According to Corcos, the reductions come from the IRS’s annual $3.7 billion modernization budget, separate from its $3.5 billion allocated for information technology. The DOGE member said that there will be more contract reviews, which could lead to additional cost-cutting measures.

“We have a $3.5 billion operations maintenance budget. We have a $3.7 billion modernization effort within it. That’s a lot of budget and way beyond any reasonable cost for what you would expect at a private company for this,” he surmised.

The IRS recently announced a pause on its modernization investments to reassess its approach in light of new artificial intelligence technologies. The decision negates the $80 billion investment in IRS modernization originally allocated under President Joe Biden’s 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. 

As proposed by Biden’s government, the funding was meant to address years of underfunding, update the agency’s 1960s-era computer systems, and strengthen tax enforcement efforts, particularly targeting wealthy individuals and businesses.

The rollback of IRS funding has been a longstanding goal of congressional Republicans, who propounded that the additional resources would be used to “press” taxpayers unnecessarily. Successive stopgap funding measures have already reduced the original $80 billion allocation by nearly half.

“You find contracts that are 10, 20, 30, $50 million, and you just ask like, why are we doing this? And everyone’s just like, meh, I don’t know. And then you cancel it and then nothing happens. It’s just inertia, it has just taken over,” remarked the Levels CEO.

Corcos commended the IRS’s 8,000 career IT employees for being “super cooperative” with the review process. Still, he bashed the agency’s overall IT expenditures, saying the American government “cannot perform the basic functions of tax collection without paying a toll to all these contractors.”

Legal battle over Trump Administration’s USIP takeover

DOGE officials are also embroiled in a legal dispute over their attempts to gain control of the US Institute of Peace (USIP), a congressionally funded think tank.

On Wednesday, US District Judge Beryl Howell denied a request from USIP board members for a temporary restraining order to block the Trump administration’s takeover efforts. The institute had accused DOGE reps of “trespassing and takeover by force” at its headquarters near the State Department in Washington, D.C.

The conflict comes against the backdrop of an executive order signed by President Trump that targets USIP and three other agencies for sweeping budget reductions. The order also removed 11 board members who supposedly “refused to comply with restructuring directives.”

“The ruling by a U.S. District Court affirms the President’s clear authority to appoint and remove board members, ensuring that the U.S. Institute of Peace operates in alignment with executive directives,” a Trump administration official told FOX News Digital on Thursday. “This decision reinforces the President’s commitment to accountability, transparency, and effective governance.“

USIP was created in 1984 to prevent and resolve international conflicts. The board members overseeing the institute are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. 

The lawsuit filed against the Trump administration details how USIP staff sought to prevent DOGE representatives from entering the building, even calling the police to prevent them from accessing internal systems and records. With the lawsuit pending, the administration proceeded with changes to USIP leadership, appointing Kenneth Jackson as acting president.

“President Trump signed an executive order to reduce USIP to its statutory minimum,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said. “After noncompliance, 11 board members were lawfully removed, and remaining board members appointed Kenneth Jackson acting president.“

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