(NewsNation) — Donald Trump’s new advisory group, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), already has the U.S. tax system in its sights.
The new commission — which Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have been tapped to lead — is considering developing a free mobile tax-filing app, according to The Washington Post, citing two people familiar with internal discussions.
The private conversations, which the sources called “highly preliminary,” offer some insight into the priorities of the DOGE commission that Trump created to “slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure Federal Agencies.”
DOGE taking initial steps, building internal staff: source
Trump said the effort to curb government waste could be “The Manhattan Project” of our time, though the specifics are still in the works.
If implemented, a free tax filing app would follow in the footsteps of Democrats who have pushed to reduce the power of private tax filing companies like Intuit.
Earlier this year, the Internal Revenue Service launched a free tax filing tool for taxpayers in 12 states. According to the Treasury Department, more than 140,000 taxpayers filed their taxes for free using the program, which was born from the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act.
Examples of government waste, inefficiency as Trump announces DOGE
In June, House Republicans introduced legislation that would have cut IRS funding and done away with the free online tax filing system, arguing that the measure would prevent the IRS from “unfairly targeting hardworking Americans.”
Meanwhile, Musk and Ramaswamy outlined their vision for the commission in a Wall Street Journal op-ed on Wednesday. The two entrepreneurs vowed to “reverse a decadeslong executive power grab” and “cut the federal government down to size.”
“We will focus particularly on driving change through executive action based on existing legislation rather than by passing new laws,” the two wrote.
Musk and Ramaswamy said they intend to hire a “lean team” of “small government crusaders” to apply recent Supreme Court rulings to federal regulations. The businessmen intend to present a list of regulations to Trump, which he can then pause.
They said the reduction in federal regulations provides “sound industrial logic” for “mass head-count reductions” across the government. Ramaswamy recently said he expects to “delete” entire agencies.
“Employees whose positions are eliminated deserve to be treated with respect, and DOGE’s goal is to help support their transition into the private sector,” Musk and Ramawasamy wrote.
The two DOGE leaders said they hope to finish the project by July 4, 2026.
