United States Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said during an appearance on Fox News that President Donald Trump's goal is to "abolish" the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and shift the burden onto "outsiders" as a means of gathering revenue.
Lutnick's statement comes as the Trump administration, in its push to downsize the federal workforce, is expected to lay off thousands of IRS employees, with one report suggesting that some 6,000 of the agency's "relatively recent hires" could be fired as soon as Thursday.
"Well think about it, Trump announced the External Revenue Service and his goal is very simple, to abolish the IRS and let all the outsiders pay. I mean this is someone who is focused on America," Lutnick said, one day after being confirmed by the Senate.
