Former US Treasury Secretary Summers: IRS layoffs could cost the government $1 trillion in revenue

Lawrence Summers, the former US Treasury secretary, said the Trump administration's move to shrink the size of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and a series of other policy changes could cost the federal government as much as $1 trillion in revenue over a decade by incentivizing taxpayers to reduce tax compliance. The cuts put at risk "the very foundation of a tax system built on voluntary compliance," Mr. Summers said in an interview. Mr. Summers said he was analysing the issue with colleagues. "I would be surprised if we did not lose more than $1 trillion in revenue over the next decade because of this irresponsible and unfounded attack on the IRS," he said.