President Donald Trump — looking to slash funding of government agencies — ordered a hiring freeze on federal civilian employees. This freeze will last indefinitely for the IRS until the U.S. Treasury Secretary determines that "it is in the national interest to lift the freeze.

Correction: This article was updated to remove a reference to House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith’s (R-Mo.) views on IRS collections and the debt ceiling. The IRS is preparing to get rid of half of its workforce,

Cutting IRS staffing in half over the next 10 months would mean less help and longer waits for many US taxpayers and increase the risk that wealthy tax cheats escape paying what they owe.