Elon Musk was already one of the most popular figures in the world, and his alliance with President-elect Donald Trump boosted him to levels even he probably couldn't imagine.
A lot of that newfound popularity, especially with the base MAGA crowd and conservatives in general, is the fact that he'll be heading up a new agency aimed at mitigating and eliminating government waste.
According to JustTheNews, Musk, one of two people in charge of the informal Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) commission, recently polled X users regarding a question about an emergency funding request from the IRS.
The agency asked for $20 billion in funding to keep up with its operations.
The results of the poll spoke loudly, with most people leaning toward slashing the agency's budget or eliminating it altogether, and a small amount of respondents saying it should be reduced or even increased.
“Do you think its budget should be: Increased, Same, Decreased, Deleted," Musk asked in the informal poll that reached millions of X users.
The IRS just said it wants $20B more money.
Do you think it’s budget should be:
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 27, 2024
The poll's results were clear as fresh glass -- at least 60% of respondents said they wanted the IRS budget "deleted."
The New York Post noted:
Only 3.9% said the federal agency’s budget should remain the same, 5.6% felt it deserved more money and 29.9% said the IRS budget should be decreased.
The poll came after Treasury Department Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo made a desperate public call for more funds for the agency, telling reporters in a call, "The IRS is going to potentially have to make dramatic decisions about stopping hiring and starting to budget for a world in which they don’t have $20 billion, which will stop a lot of their progress."
Users who responded or commented on the poll weighed in on what they believe Musk should do if he's able to once he's in charge of DOGE.
"America's debt is $36,000,000,000,000 (trillion). That is a lot of F'ing zeros. It is equivalent to $106,000 per person living in America. That is what we are leaving our children. DELETE THE IRS!," one X user wrote.
Another X user wrote, "How about we go to a flat tax with no deductions and delete 99% of their budget so that filing and collecting taxes is the easiest thing of all time? Can’t be that hard."
Only time will tell what Musk will ultimately recommend to President Trump.
