Are you a recent IRS civil servant? I would like to interview you! Details below, including my contact info -- or reach out via Bsky!

"The goal of the federal surge seems to be not to make the capital safe but to let its residents know they should be afraid."

No child should feel this way. I’m proud of my city and its families stepping up to protect one another. “What if they come and take you too?” Kevin asked his mother while getting ready that morning, just before they headed down to the lobby. “Who will we stay with?”

Some coverage of the federal takeover of DC would leave you thinking the main consequence is National Guardsmen laying mulch. No. It is masked agents terrifying schoolchildren. Please read this crucial article from @teoarmus.bsky.social on how DC communities are trying to protect families.

If or (dare to hope) when we rebuild our government, we will need to think about not just the social and economic goals we want to achieve, but what the structure of our new institutions conveys about what government is and should be.

I knew about these signs but this was my first time seeing one. To be so afraid of the past that you demand a fairy tale is pathetic. For the state to do so is grim.

If you are interested in what is happening in Columbia Heights and Mount Pleasant these days ‪@maustermuhle.bsky.social‬ ‬ at @51st.news has written the best article I've seen.

This is exactly it.

Unilateral tariffs, destruction of public data, cuts to science funding, collapsing tourism... I wrote up a brief compendium of (some of) the damage to business that has resulted from rising authoritarianism in the United States this year:

IRS-CI is “the agency that took down Al Capone.” 2,000+ agents investigate major tax evasion, identity theft, cartels, bribery, money laundering. Identified $9 billion in fraud in 2024. This? In addition to inestimable damage to our civic fabric, this resulted in 4 arrests for fare evasion. So, $9.

So much gratitude for the Mt Pleasant neighbors who were present on every corner and in every park on our walk to school this morning, protecting our community and welcoming the kids back to school. ❤️

Listen to the diversity of voices responding here. This is the people of DC.

The IRS was built to be a stable, independent institution. Instead, it's in chaos under Trump, with record leadership turnover, mass staff firings, and the departure of top civil servants who refused to hand private taxpayer data to DOGE. New from @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social at @brookings.edu:

This week the IRS is asking for public input about free tax filing options. Now is the time to 1) Tell them they should keep Direct File 2) Submit a better poem than mine: "Roses are red, Violets are blue, Direct File was great, we don't need something new!" Link to the (anonymous) survey:

“Defend the District” protest and Go-Go concert against Trump’s takeover at 14th and U St:

Visited NMAAHC today. Here is how Boston's black community answered the Fugitive Slave Act: "...believing that resistance to tyrants is obedience to God, we are now resolved, to organize a League of Freedom, composed of all who are ready to resist this law, rescue and protect the slave..."

Mount Pleasant has a new sign. Actually, a lot of new signs.

Even more senior civil servants pushed out at IRS: www.washingtonpost.com/business/202... More than two-thirds of IRS senior leadership has left or been removed since January. Unprecedented and dangerous.

Sure you know the 1943 Donald Duck cartoon supporting the income tax, but do you know this song (used in another anti-Nazi Donald Duck cartoon that same year)?

We're weirdly inured to routine stuff like turnover in the Trump Admin but here's a chart of IRS commissioners per year going back to 1862. via @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social www.brookings.edu/articles/the...

New from me at @brookings.edu: Unprecedented, dangerous turnover at IRS: Of 31 top positions, 15 have turned over since January, 2 have been placed on leave, 2 are vacant and 3 are slated for elimination. www.brookings.edu/articles/the...

As a part of our explainer series, a few months back we covered what to do if you're arrested in D.C. Refresh yourself on your rights. 51st.news/what-to-know...

Look how legislators who interacted with both Janet Yellen and at least one other male Fed chair interrupted Yellen more and interacted with her using more aggressive language.

small brain: retrocession of dc to maryland medium brain: dc statehood galaxy brain: "reduc[e] the size of Washington, D.C., to an area encompassing only a few core federal buildings and then admit the rest of the District’s 127 neighborhoods as states" harvardlawreview.org/print/vol-13...

The turnover at IRS this year is extremely serious, and I’m writing something about the implications that should be up at Brookings tomorrow. …but in the meantime, TAX TRIVIA: when was the last time the IRS had more than three people serve as commissioner in a single year?

What are the chances I spend this spring explaining why it's a problem that Americans are receiving tax refunds that are just the word "bluebberry"

"Trump Is Replacing Billy Long as I.R.S. Commissioner" says the NYT. That would mean **SIX** IRS commissioners since January. I'll have a new report up on leadership changes at IRS next week, but here's the summary as of May. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/what...

I think it is possible that, in the years to come, the U.S. will have to think in really new ways about how to rebuild tax morale and compliance. Here's a fascinating experiment on increasing tax compliance. Very different context but big theoretical implications: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Love this 1950 poster celebrating "Public Servants Week" From a fascinating new article on the early history of public sector unions from Sarah Anzia and @trounstine.bsky.social: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

New analysis from my colleagues at @taxpolicycenter.bsky.social: taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/budge...

📢 Webinar Today at 4 PM ET - join Columbia colleagues and me to discuss what the new settlements between Columbia, Brown, and Penn mean for the future of higher education and democracy in the United States. 📢

🚨Panel tomorrow🚨 Honored to join fellow panelists Julie Su and and Daniel Hornung. The BLS is vital to our economy, plain and simple. Join tomorrow to hear more about the agency, what it does, and why we need it. groundworkcollaborative.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Glad to see former CEA chairs Greg Mankiw and (@brookings.edu president) Cecilia Rouse explain why tampering with federal statistics endangers the economy as a whole. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Re: Trump/BLS... Firing officials for reporting accurate data unflattering to the regime is straight out of the authoritarian playbook. Last year I wrote about this and other likely economic consequences of further democratic erosion: www.brookings.edu/articles/dem...

Who is Arrested by ICE under Trump 2.0? A 🧵 New from me & @elizabethacox.bsky.social! Piece: immresearch.org/publications... 1. ICE arrests spike in Jan & May 2025; when arrests increase, percent of those arrested who are convicted of a crime falls Majority arrested have no criminal conviction

It is heartbreaking to see Columbia capitulating to the Trump Administration's attacks on higher education and democracy. Not only does this legitimize the offensive against civil society and pressure other universities to fold, but it feels like madness to trust the Administration to keep a deal.

TOMORROW: @gruberg.bsky.social @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social @mauricewfp.bsky.social @akapczynski.bsky.social & I will be talking about how to build power in this new world we're living in. Need inspiration? Someone to ask all your unanswered questions? Join us! us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

The only group that came even remotely close to getting the growth of solar right back in 2009 was not the IEA or J. P. Morgan Chase or Dow Jones or BlackRock. It was Greenpeace. And even they were way too pessimistic.

Fascinating survey data on the missing Biden voters by Lake Research. The voters who sat out in '24 weren't looking for a centrist or turned off by trans rights. They want a genuine economic populist agenda: take on corporate greed, lower costs, and make the wealthy pay their fair share.

I am once again begging people to stop calling costs they dislike a tax. democrats.org/trump-tax/

Trump is breaking the IRS, and it’s hurting working families in LA. Our local IRS office is down to 3 taxpayer advocates from 21 originally, causing refund delays when Angelenos and businesses need them most. If you’re having trouble with the IRS, contact my office for help.

Join us for the 5th Research Conference on the American Political Economy, July 28-30 on zoom, 12-2:30pm ET, to discuss cutting-edge APE research! Register here: yale.zoom.us/meeting/regi... or check out the program (www.americanpoliticaleconomy.org/events/annua...) [email protected]

"No bread, just circuses" less popular than anticipated

The use of predatory fees and fines, accompanied by tax cuts for the wealthy/corporations and intentional destruction of the state's tax capacity, is standard autocratic practice, including in the Jim Crow South: The Long Shadow of White Supremacist Fiscal Policy share.google/V0zZGMkQUhoZ...

The tax cut legislation is markedly unpopular, new polls show. If you want to compare the numbers to the (also unpopular) 2017 TCJA: www.brookings.edu/articles/the...

Why does this matter for state capacity? Because with unitary executive theory, there is no actor that can make credible long-term commitments to public servants. The public sector becomes permanently viewed as an unstable and chaotic workplace that we are seeing now. Good employees will not join.

One thing weirdly missing from many conversations about government debt & "fiscal discipline" is the obvious difference between going into debt to pay for something worthwhile vs. something stupid.

Artificial intelligence tools like chatbots are supposed to become more effective over time. Data indicate the IRS’s are getting worse, just as the agency is increasingly relying on them amid staffing cuts. Read @laurenloricchio.bsky.social's latest investigation: www.taxnotes.com/featured-new...

NYC is reauthorizing tax lien sales, turning "the civic project of collecting funds for the public sector into a bonanza for predators in the private sector." A vital piece of research from @akahrl.bsky.social : jacobin.com/2025/05/prop...