Trump DOGE Executive Claims $1.5 Billion Savings From IRS Technology Budget

The tech startup executive charged by the Trump administration with reviewing the Internal Revenue Service's technology modernization program said on Thursday that he has canceled contracts worth about $1.5 billion from the tax agency's budget.

Sam Corcos, founder and CEO of health technology firm Levels, and a member of President Donald Trump's informal Department of Government Efficiency, told Fox News Channel that he has found legacy contracts with outside technology consultants worth tens of billions of dollars for a systems modernization effort that is decades behind schedule.

"I think we've so far stopped work and cut about $1.5 billion from the modernization budget, mostly projects that were putting us down this death spiral of complexity in our code base," said Corcos, who serves as a special adviser to the Treasury.

That's from an annual modernization budget of about $3.7 billion, which is in addition to a $3.5 billion information technology systems budget, he said.

The true size and legality of many DOGE-related cuts in government spending have been challenged in court.

The IRS last week said it was pausing technology modernization investments to reevaluate its operating approach in light of new artificial intelligence technologies.