President-elect Donald J. Trump said on Wednesday that he would nominate Billy Long, a former Missouri congressman, to lead the Internal Revenue Service, effectively pledging to fire the tax collector’s current leader, a Biden appointee.
Mr. Long, after losing a Senate primary in 2022, has hawked a pandemic-era tax credit that has been riddled by fraud and cost the government billions more than expected. Lawmakers have tried to shut down the tax credit, and the I.R.S. temporarily stopped processing claims, among other measures, to root out false applications for the tax break.
In a 2023 podcast interview discussing his work helping businesses claim the credit, Mr. Long said he and his associates had yet to have the tax agency deny a single claim. The program, the Employee Retention Tax Credit, was created by Congress and Mr. Trump in 2020 as part of a sweeping stimulus bill intended to incentivize businesses to pay their employees during the economic shutdown.
“We don’t sneak anyone through,” he said. “We make darn sure they do qualify for this refund of their own money from the I.R.S. with interest.”
Mr. Trump’s choice, announced on his social media website, would shake up the I.R.S. at a pivotal moment. The Biden administration has poured billions of dollars into modernizing the agency and beefing up its tax collection efforts in an effort to improve customer service and crack down on tax cheats.
In 2022, President Biden chose Daniel Werfel, a former management consultant and civil servant who had worked in both Democratic and Republican administrations, to lead the overhaul of the I.R.S. His term was set to last until 2027.
Republicans have deeply opposed the Biden administration’s vision for the tax agency, which included providing roughly $80 billion in supplemental funding to the I.R.S. over a decade. G.O.P. lawmakers successfully pushed to cancel $20 billion of that money, and are eyeing further cuts. The I.R.S. is unpopular with the public, and Republicans have long attacked it as invasive and inept.
Additional funding for the I.R.S. helps raise the money for the government by more effectively enforcing tax laws and requiring Americans to pay the taxes they owe, according to budget experts.
Mr. Long, a former auctioneer, did not serve on the House tax-writing committee during his time in Congress. But he did put his auctioneering skills to use while in Washington.
During his first term, Mr. Trump called Mr. Long onto stage to jokingly auction off the Stanley Cup as the St. Louis Blues, a hockey team, visited the White House.
“I have known Billy since 2011 — He is an extremely hard worker, and respected by all, especially by those who know him in Congress. Taxpayers and the wonderful employees of the IRS will love having Billy at the helm,” Mr. Trump said in a social media post.
Presidents do not typically select new I.R.S. commissioners when they come into office, and the Senate will have to confirm Mr. Long. President Biden waited for the term of Mr. Trump’s first choice to lead the tax agency, Charles P. Rettig, to end before selecting Mr. Werfel.
“I have a vision of my last day on the job being Nov. 12, 2027,” Mr. Werfel said on a podcast for the publication Tax Notes last month. “My frame of mind on the I.R.S. is that it’s nonpartisan, is that our priorities can and should shift with new Treasury leadership.”
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