Trump’s Pick to Head IRS Set for Long-Delayed Confirmation Hearing

After a five-month wait, former Rep. Billy Long faces a hearing in the Senate amid scrutiny of his qualifications and the agency’s operations.

President Donald Trump’s pick for IRS commissioner, Billy Long, arrives to testify for his confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Finance on Capitol Hill in Washington on May 20, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Advocates for taxpayers and small businesses say they are watching with keen interest as Billy Long, President Donald Trump’s pick for IRS commissioner, heads to a long-awaited Senate confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday.

Long’s supporters say they are confident that the former Missouri congressman can do the job well and restore trust to the troubled agency.

They also believe he would champion small businesses because he’s a business owner himself. After working as an auctioneer and realtor, Long now earns a living as a “certified tax and business adviser,” familiar with tax regulations and their implications for businesses, according to his social media profile.

Critics say that Long, 69, lacks direct experience with tax policy. They also have questioned some of his financial dealings and his professional involvement with a controversial tax-credit program.

While senators have probed those concerns for the past five months or so, Long’s hearing has been delayed. Many other Trump nominees waited for only a month or two before their confirmation hearings.

The Senate Finance Committee’s May 20 hearing precedes a possible vote on whether Long will head the IRS—an agency fraught with recent allegations of disorganization, mismanagement, and unjust targeting of political foes.

Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been scrutinizing the IRS; efforts to modernize the IRS are 30 years overdue and $15 billion over-budget, a DOGE official, Sam Corcos, told Fox News in March.

The IRS also has been undergoing a leadership shakeup. Four acting commissioners have taken turns after the former commissioner, Danny Werfel, resigned in the wake of the president’s nomination of Long in December.

Trump, in announcing he had chosen Long to head the IRS, said Long’s current business focuses on helping small businesses navigate IRS complexities.

Long, whose full name is William H. Long II, has run his own businesses for 32 years, the president said in a Dec. 4 social media post. He went on to say that he and Long have known each other since 2011.

“He is an extremely hard worker, and respected by all, especially by those who know him in Congress,” Trump said. “Taxpayers and the wonderful employees of the IRS will love having Billy at the helm. He is the consummate ‘people person,’ well respected on both sides of the aisle.”

Chuck Flint, executive director of the Alliance for IRS Accountability, said his pro-taxpayer organization will be closely watching Long’s hearing. He also has said he supports Long.

In a video posted to social media on the eve of the hearing, Flint listed a few of the questions he’d like to see answered: “What structural reforms are going to be prioritized in the first 100 days? What’s going to be done to root out perceived political bias at the IRS, and most importantly, what’s going to be done to make sure that you hardworking taxpayers get more due process from the IRS?”

“We all know that the IRS is a broken agency. It needs to be fixed,” he said, calling the hearing “a perfect time to start” that process.

Last week, Flint called Long “a great pick” for the job, adding, “He’s a fresh set of eyes at the IRS.”

Flint, who made those comments in an interview with One America News, said the IRS is the “least-trusted” among federal agencies “because they don’t have a culture over there that is focused on the taxpayers.”

Rather than helping taxpayers, the IRS harasses them, he said, adding that his organization obtained public records that showed “political targeting” against businesses during the Biden administration.

Dean Francis, a Virginia tax consultant, told The Epoch Times he has closely watched discussions about Long unfold during the past few months.

“I’m aware of the fact that he doesn’t have a lot of technical experience in tax, but he understands what it’s like to be in the shoes of a small businessperson,” Francis said, calling Long “a voice for those types of businesses.”

While Long enjoys bipartisan appeal, the Republican’s three most outspoken critics are Democrats: Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, and Ron Wyden of Oregon.

All three raised concerns over Long providing advice to consumers regarding the Employee Retention Credit.

That program was designed to reimburse business owners who kept people on payroll despite COVID shutdowns and restrictions.

Francis said the program got a black eye undeservedly when IRS officials alleged it was rife with fraud, when a small percentage of claims were found to be fraudulent.

Likewise, Long has faced attacks, which Francis said are based on comments taken “completely out of context,” for his advocacy of the tax credit.

Mismanagement of the Employee Retention Credit has been named the IRS’s top problem, according to a report from the National Taxpayer Advocate, an independent office within the IRS.

“Countless eligible businesses” have been hurt, the report said, as applications piled up while IRS offices were shut down during the pandemic.

Making the backlog worse, the agency hit the brakes on reviewing claims, based on “anecdotal” fears that a large percentage of claims might be fraudulent, the report stated. As a result, a million claims languished for an average of a year, according to the report.

If confirmed as IRS commissioner, Long would head an agency that handles about 150 million tax returns yearly and is responsible for collecting more than $5 trillion a year. That’s 96 percent of the money needed to run all U.S. government operations, “from national defense to food safety to Social Security and Medicare,” the report says.

The IRS has employed upwards of 80,000 people in recent years—a workforce expected to be downsized as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to shrink the federal government and the cost to run it.