An advisor working for the Department of Government Efficiency headed by White House adviser Elon Musk revealed some shocking information he discovered while examining technology at the Treasury Department belonging to the Internal Revenue Service. In an interview with Fox News’s Laura Ingraham, DOGE tech advisor Sam Corcos revealed that a massive upgrade to the IRS computer systems is decades behind schedule and billions over budget.
“I’ve been brought in to look at the IRS modernization program, as well as the operations and maintenance budget,” Corcos said. “This is a huge program that is already 30 years behind schedule and $15 billion over budget.
“The IRS has some legacy infrastructure… old mainframes running COBOL and Assembly, and the challenge is how do we make that a modern system? Virtually every bank has done this, but we’re still using a lot of those old systems. Typically, in industry, this takes a few years and maybe a few hundred million dollars. We’re now 35 years into this… It was supposed to be delivered in 1996,” he shockingly revealed. He also said that since 1990, IRS officials have repeatedly said the program “is five years away” from being delivered. “It’s always five years away,” he told Ingraham.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also chimed in and revealed even more bombshell information. “Many of the employees are fantastic. It’s this consultant group. They’re like a boa constrictor. They’re like a python,” he said. “They’ve constricted themselves around our government, and the costs are unbelievable. They’re being passed on to the American taxpayer.”
DOGE TAKES ON THE IRS@SamCorcos, a key @DOGE hire at Treasury, reveals the IRS is 30 years behind and $15B over budget.
“You cancel a $50M contract—and no one even knows why it existed.”
Due to huge response, we’re posting the entire segment. Watch it all. pic.twitter.com/CKhyBzKQcH
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) March 21, 2025
“The entrenched interests, the consultants, the Democrats, mainstream media, they just want to blow this project out of the water,” Bessent added. “This is the opposite of government efficiency, not elimination, not extinction. Sam and his crew are making it more efficient to work for the American people. So what’s wrong with it working better, cheaper, faster, and with more privacy?”
“A huge part of our government is collecting taxes. We cannot perform the basic functions of tax collection without paying a toll to all these contractors. We really have to figure out how to get out of this hole. We’re in a really deep hole right now,” Corcos noted further.
