- The Internal Revenue Service is one of several federal agencies seeing cuts in the first few months of the second Trump Administration
- A woman in Grand Ledge took a buyout from the IRS as she and her family prepare to move out of Michigan
- Video shows a former IRS worker sharing her future plans while a tax expert at MSU offers a look at possible impacts to next year's tax returns due to fewer IRS workers
GRAND LEDGE, Mich. — Dianne Bailey is a lifelong Michigander who's preparing to leave the Great Lakes State for the Atlantic coast.
I met Bailey the day after she returned from North Carolina; She had found a house where Bailey and her family plan to move to in the next few weeks.
"I'm excited about the weather," Bailey said.
Bailey maintains her blissful mood even after losing her job with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
"I'm still considered an IRS employee," Bailey said.
Bailey was hired by the IRS in November as a revenue agent focusing on audits. She was at a job training event in Seattle when the White House announced a slashing of the federal workforce in February.
WATCH: SUPREME COURT BLOCKS ORDER TO REINSTATE THOUSANDS OF FEDERAL WORKERS
"President Trump has said all along that he was going to get rid of the IRS," Bailey said. "I just didn't think it would be this quick."
Christina Wease, director of the Alvin L. Storrs Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic at Michigan State University's College of Law, says cuts to the IRS workforce 'could be pretty severe' to taxpayers.
"[The IRS are] the ones answering the phones, processing returns, issuing refunds," Wease said.
Fewer workers could mean delays for processing audits Wease says. It also means neighbors may have to wait longer for next year's tax returns to kick in.
"[The IRS has] never really had a lot of employees. It was kind of hard to get a hold of them anyway," Wease said. "Now we're seeing maybe significant drops in personnel. It could definitely have effects for next filing season."
WATCH: CONGRESS REACTS TO SWEEPING LAYOFFS WITHIN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
In February, President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling for the reduction of the size of the federal workforce.
President Trump tabbed multi-billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team to make cuts with the goal of making government 'more efficient and effective.'
Wease says there aren't many resources to determine how much impact the cuts have.
"It's really hard to say because we're not getting a lot of information so we don't really know," Wease said.
WATCH: SCRIPPS NEWS REPORTS: DOGE UNLEASHED
Meanwhile, Bailey and her family continue to pack their belongings, making numerous trips between the Tar Heel State. They're expected to settle in by mid-June with Bailey closing on her home in mid-May.
She's optimistic that President Trump's plan to reduce the size of the federal government and find any fraud will provide more jobs and opportunities for future generations.
"I'm excited for [my grandchildren's] future and what's it's going to entail," Bailey said.
"We just have to trust the plan."
For more information on MSU's Low-Income Taxpayer clinic you can visit their website. For more information about the federal program you can visit the IRS website.
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