Elon Musk is going for the kill again. His Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E) just set its sights on the IRS and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) after axing USAID less than 24 hours ago amid intense lawsuits by Democratic lawmakers and harassment/doxxing of his staff by Democratic Americans on Bluesky.
Elon, appointed by President Donald Trump to lead the agency-slashing rampage, announced plans to “toss the tax code into a shredder” and said that he’s ready to wipe out the CFPB entirely. This comes as the newly-confirmed pro-crypto Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has been appointed interim director of the CFPB. The message is loud and clear: no agency is safe.
The CFPB confirmed on Monday that Scott would take over from Rohit Chopra, who stepped down over the weekend. Scott was one of Trump’s top economic advisers during the 2024 campaign. Now, he’s being positioned as a key figure in Trump’s push to overhaul the government’s regulatory framework, with Elon orchestrating from behind the scenes.
CFPB on the chopping block as Elon hints at IRS overhaul
Republicans have had a long-standing grudge against the CFPB, criticizing it for overreach in the financial sector. In 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that the agency’s director serves at the president’s pleasure, effectively giving Trump the power to remove Chopra.
Earlier today, Elon went straight to X, declaring, “We’ll delete CFPB.” Scott has been less extreme in his comments, though he’s playing the long game. He answered a Senate questionnaire during his confirmation process, saying, “The CFPB was created by legislation passed by Congress. I look forward to ensuring that it fulfills its statutory mission.”
But in this new Elon-led world of efficiency, that mission may shrink—or disappear—faster than anyone expects. Meanwhile, on February 3, Elon claimed on X that he “deleted” 18F, the digital services team behind the IRS’s Direct File program.
Despite Elon’s claim, IRS officials came out to say that the program is still running and accepting returns. This didn’t stop Elon from doubling down. The next day, he called Direct File “bloated bureaucracy” and vowed to tear apart the entire tax system.
“Stop torturing the American people,” Elon said on X. His vision includes a flat tax that eliminates nearly all deductions and credits, like those for mortgage interest, student loans, and low-income earners. Critics immediately raised alarms, pointing out that this would hit middle- and low-income families the hardest.
But Elon isn’t backing off. He proposed a government-built app for free tax filing, targeting private companies like TurboTax that dominate the tax-preparation market.
When asked if the IRS itself could be abolished during his X Spaces on Sunday, Elon changed the subject without actually responding. But his alignment with GOP efforts to replace income taxes with tariffs or a consumption tax suggests that nothing is off the table.
One of Elon’s more provocative remarks came during the X Spaces session when he said he’d gladly cancel D.O.G.E if the government would “delete everything not passed explicitly by Congress,” adding, “Not in a million years would they do it.”
Massive US debt crisis fuels Elon’s D.O.G.E ambitions
While Elon shreds regulations at home, he’s also turning up the pressure on US debt policy. He warned on January 2 that the national debt, now at $36.2 trillion, is utterly out of control. According to Elon, 23% of federal revenue goes straight to interest payments. If this continues, Social Security and Medicare could be gutted. “We’re going bankrupt!” he said.
The numbers back up his concerns. This year, $9.2 trillion in US government debt is either maturing or needs refinancing. Much of it was borrowed when interest rates were low. Now, as rates climb, the government faces higher debt service costs.
The average interest rate on Treasury debt is at 3.2%—the highest since 2010. Elon claims his cost-cutting measures through D.O.G.E will stabilize these numbers, but the Democrats don’t wanna listen.
During a recent collaboration with JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Elon reassured bondholders that D.O.G.E reforms would ease fiscal pressure. The eccentric billionaire said during the session that:
“I’m giving a talk later this week with JPMorgan Chase and Jamie Dimon, and this [will obviously be to a] financial audience, and really just to say, look, if you’re shorting bonds, I think you’re on the wrong side of the bet. We’re showing investors that efficiency drives stability.”
Still, with $9.2 trillion to refinance and rising rates, markets remain nervous. Real yields on government bonds have surged, with the 10-year note yield jumping 115 basis points since January.
Seventy percent of this maturing debt is due between January and June 2025. Elon has been blunt about his priorities. He wants deep cuts to avoid any rate hikes. Bond markets may “thank him” later, he claimed, but lawmakers aren’t so convinced.
Senator Patty Murray blasted Elon’s influence on Treasury operations, calling it a conflict of interest. Tesla, after all, reported $2.3 billion in US income last year but paid no federal taxes thanks to stock option credits and tax breaks. “Hypocrisy at its finest,” Murray said.
Elon, however, still doesn’t care. He ran a poll on X asking if D.O.G.E should audit the IRS. Out of 347,492 votes, 54.9% said yes, while 39.4% emphatically chose “F yes.” Only 5.7% said no. Elon took the results as validation of his anti-bureaucracy crusade. “Nothing polls higher than cutting government spending,” he wrote.
The controversy even reignited a feud between Elon and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who called him “one of the most unintelligent billionaires ever.” Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson jumped to Elon’s defense, arguing that: “What she doesn’t get is that Musk is the most likely to outsource a huge amount of his decision-making to Grok, which will be a superintelligence this year. By extension, he’s one of the first augmented superhumans. Having unlimited money and computers really does make a difference these days.”
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