U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent discussed modernizing the IRS with artificial intelligence during an interview on Fox News. He emphasized the agency's current inefficiencies regarding collections, privacy, and customer service, noting that the IRS relies on outdated IT systems. Bessent hinted that after assessing Elon Musk's DOGE, he would consider significant technological upgrades. He is aware of the resistance to change within the agency but insists that the focus should be on serving the interests of American taxpayers rather than maintaining the status quo.
I've only been in Washington for three weeks, and what I can tell you is people don't like when you move their cheese, but it's not their cheese, it's the American taxpayer's cheese.
With the IRS, I have three goals: collections, privacy, and customer service. And I don't think that there is anyone who thinks that either of those three categories is firing on all cylinders.
I think we can do, as we're at the advent of this great A.I. revolution, is a big I.T. upgrade.
The IRS has 12 different I.T. systems that operate on a system called COBOL, which is what I learned to program in college in the 80s.
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