The I.R.S. lost roughly a quarter of its employees since President Trump took office, hampering the agency’s ability to conduct audits.
Page A4From§Eachthe milkman edition — 1 September 2026
US cuts political interference ban after Census report; IRS audit revenue plummets
The Trump administration quietly cut the ban on political interference after an unusual Census Bureau report, while the IRS watchdog finds audit revenue has dropped sharply under Trump. The sequence is familiar: a report triggers a change, the change removes a safeguard, and the money stops coming in. The receipts show the path, not the motive. When the Census rules bend, the audits bend soon after. Both moves leave the government with less oversight and less revenue, and the ledger tells you whose accounts run smooth. The gap is measured in billions and in trust. The mechanism is documented, the effect plain. The only question is who still checks the books.
“If you want to know how power keeps its hands clean, watch them gut the ban on political interference and let audit money dry up. The census gets a rewrite, the IRS stops checking the books, and the only thing left is the handshake.”
“Everybody wants less government meddling, right? So cutting a ban just makes things more efficient. As for IRS audits, less revenue means taxpayers have more freedom. Wait, I mean the government has less to work with—it's fine, really. Did I say 'plummet'? That sounds dramatic; it's just a temporary dip.”
The receipts
After the Census Bureau issued a report tied to a Trump-aligned think tank, the bureau's parent agency cut language banning political interference from its scientific integrity policy, NPR learned.
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.