What to know about Billy Long, the ex-congressman and auctioneer Trump wants to head the IRS
President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday said he wants ex-congressman Billy Long, a Republican from Missouri and a former auctioneer, to run the IRS. As a lawmaker, Long co-sponsored legislation that aimed to wipe out much of the tax code.
In making the announcement, Trump praised Long's "32 years of experience running his own businesses in Real Estate and, as one of the premier Auctioneers in the Country." He also noted that since leaving Congress in 2023, Long has worked as a business and tax adviser.
While Trump didn't mention the current IRS Commissioner, Danny Werfel, in his announcement, the decision signals the president-elect is likely to replace him with Long after taking office in January, Lindsay Owens, executive director of the Groundwork Collaborative, a progressive economic think tank, told CBS MoneyWatch.
Naming Long as the next IRS chief drew both support from conservatives as well as criticism from the left, with Rep. Don Beyer, a Democrat from Virginia who serves on the House Ways and Means Tax subcommittee calling it a "terrible mistake," while Idaho Republican Senator Mike Crapo issued a statement saying he's looking forward to hearing Long's ideas for the tax agency. The fiscally conservative National Taxpayers Union Foundation praised Trump's choice, saying Long could help reform the IRS.
Long has recently served as a tax adviser to businesses seeking to employ a controversial tax credit, but, unlike prior IRS commissioners, his background is largely outside of the tax industry, experts noted.
"This guy is an auctioneer — that's his expertise," Owens noted. "This is an incredibly unserious choice."
Werfel, who was appointed by President Biden, stepped into the role in 2023, with his term set to expire in 2027. Typically, presidents allow IRS commissioners to serve out their term, as Mr. Biden allowed Trump's former IRS appointee, Charles Rettig, to do before naming Werfel to the role.
If the Senate approves his appointment to the IRS, Long would oversee an agency with 85,000 employees and an annual budget exceeding $12 billion.
A spokesperson for the Trump campaign declined to comment.
Here's what to know about Long and the IRS.
Who is Billy Long?
Long, who attended the University of Missouri but didn't graduate, described himself on a website for his congressional run as a "fourth-generation native of Southwest Missouri." He touted his skills as an auctioneer, noting that he had been named the "best auctioneer in the Ozarks for seven years in a row."
Long also worked in real estate and in talk radio, hosting a show on a Missouri AM radio station.
He shuttered his auction firm, Billy Long Auctions, before he was sworn into Congress in 2011, according to a local publication.
What professional experience does Long have with taxes?
As a congressman, Long co-sponsored some tax-related bills, including several efforts to eliminate the estate tax as well as a measure called the Tax Code Termination Act.
That legislation would have wiped out much of the current tax code, replacing it with what the bill called a "simple and fair system" that would have applied "a low rate to all Americans." Such flat taxes are considered regressive by many experts because low- and middle-income taxpayers would end up paying a larger share of their incomes than would wealthy Americans.
"As a business owner, Billy knows first-hand how government regulation and heavy taxes can affect the small businesses that serve as the economic engine of our country," his campaign site noted.
While Long isn't an accountant or CPA, he has been involved in tax advising since leaving Congress. In a 2023 podcast, for example, he touted his work helping businesses use the Employee Retention Tax Credit, a credit that the IRS has flagged for its high rate of fraud.
In the podcast, Long also said that when he served as a congressman, he helped make the ERTC easier for businesses to claim, noting that the credit was difficult to qualify for during its first iteration.
"We went from having to say COVID adversely affected your business definitely, to taking that away, and you don't have to prove that you had any downturn," he said. "We're doing recoveries for folks that had their best two years ever during COVID."
The IRS says the ERTC is aimed at employers who paid wages to workers between March 12, 2020, and January 1, 2022, and that were either suspended by government order during the pandemic or experienced a "required decline in gross receipts during 2020 or the first three calendar quarters of 2021." The credit is also available to startups that began at the end of 2021 and had less than $1 million in revenue.
How does Long's experience compare with prior IRS commissioners?
Long's lack of tax industry experience sets him apart from other recent IRS commissioners.
Werfel, the current IRS chief, has an undergraduate degree from Cornell University and a master's degree in public policy from Duke University as well as a law degree from the University of North Carolina. He's also held a number of government jobs involved in operations and the IRS, including serving as acting commissioner of the IRS from May to December 2013, according to his biography.
Werfel's predecessor, Charles Rettig, who was appointed by President-elect Trump, also held several degrees, including a master's in taxation. Before joining the IRS, Rettig worked as a tax attorney for more than three decades and served as the chairman of the IRS Advisory Council.
What is happening with the IRS now?
Under Werfel, the IRS has expanded audits of wealthy taxpayers and big corporations, clawing back billions in unpaid taxes, efforts that were funded by the Inflation Reduction Act.
The tax agency has also reduced the time it takes consumers to connect with an IRS employee, while also rolling out a free tax filing system called Direct File.
Some Republican lawmakers have pushed back against the expanded IRS funding, claiming the agency would use the money to hire thousands of new agents to increase audits on middle-class taxpayers.
The Treasury had said that funding could help the IRS add nearly 87,000 full-time workers over 10 years, but the agency didn't specify whether those new workers would be auditors, customer service workers or other types of employees. That figure also represented the total number of employees that could be hired, without calculating the impact of the number of IRS workers who are expected to retire or leave the department over the next several years.
Some Democratic lawmakers are expressing concern that, if appointed, Long could disrupt the progress that the IRS has made under Werfel.
Werfel "has done an excellent job rebuilding the IRS, boosting customer service and enhancing enforcement aimed at wealthy tax evaders," Rep. Beyer said in a statement. "Removing him will clearly signal Trump's intention to make the agency less responsive to the American people, while giving a green light to wealthy tax cheats to evade their fair share of the tax burden."
Still, Republican lawmakers expressed support for the pick, such as Senator Crapo, who highlighted "privacy and security" issues at the IRS and "inefficient use of resources." He added, "I look forward to learning more about Mr. Long's vision for the agency."
