Hamill: IRS leadership carousel survivor has a full plate

There’s an old saying that if you want something done, give it to the busiest person that you know.

The thought, it seems, is that busy people are doers. This advice may seem counterintuitive if you notice that the busy person has a “full plate.”

At an all-you-can-eat buffet, the servers try to avoid offering a full plate. If there is a carving station, the server will place the food right in the middle of your plate.

As someone who appreciates buffets, such as the multi-stationed one at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, I look to create the full plate.

This may require some rearranging. The food placed in the middle must be moved to the side to make room for more items. I am a mover.

He who returns to the table with the full plate catches the — often unapproving — attention of diners from adjacent tables.

Finish the task and go back for more, you say! But then you need to get another plate. And people start to notice the plates stacking up on your table.

Maybe that busiest person has not only one full plate but is starting to stack up other plates.

The goal of the diner at the buffet is to satisfy his or her hunger. Multiple trips to the buffet, with uneaten food left on piled up plates, is hardly efficient.

Maybe goals can best be achieved with the proper dinnerware managed by someone without a full plate.

The IRS collects federal tax revenues. It also provides information to tax practitioners and taxpayers.

The IRS needs to be available to help taxpayers when they struggle with their filing and payment obligations. We expect much from the IRS.

Like all organizations, the IRS has a head, called the commissioner. Commissioner Danny Werfel resigned Jan. 20, when President Donald Trump took office.

Werfel’s term was not over. He lasted 22 months. Trump wanted Werfel out. Trump nominated a commissioner, who must be approved by the Senate.

The nominee has no experience with taxes, other than marketing a tax credit that has proven troublesome to the IRS.

After Werfel resigned, we needed a temporary commissioner until the Senate could act on the nominee. In comes Doug O’Donnell as an acting commissioner.

O’Donnell was previously a temporary commissioner. He had a lot of IRS experience. He lasted a little over a month.

Melanie Krause was the next one to take the reins. She did not have a great deal of experience but was promoted from within the IRS.

Krause lasted less than two months. In came Gary Shapley. Shapley had worked for the IRS but not at the upper echelons.

Shapley lasted three days. Next up — Michael Faulkender. Faulkender also serves as deputy secretary of the Treasury Department.

Less than three months into the Trump administration we had five heads of the IRS. The IRS does a lot and once had about 100,000 employees.

Commissioner is a busy job. A full plate. I have some experience negotiating a full plate at an all-you-can-eat buffet. One needs experience to be up to the task.

What’s the deal with all the resignations? Starting at the beginning, concern that the commissioner did not “fit” the new administration.

Then concern with data sharing with other government agencies. Then concern with data sharing with DOGE and resignations of other top IRS officials.

Next, concern that Elon Musk had appointed the acting commissioner. At the end, we have Michael Faulkender, a well-respected academic with Treasury experience.

But Faulkender has a full plate. He already has a day job. The busiest guy was given the task.

The chaos at the IRS, and the demands that sensitive tax data be shared with other government agencies or whatever DOGE is, is costing loss of other IRS jobs.

Some IRS employees have been laid off. Some are so concerned with the chaos that they are accepting retirement.

Congress is now considering extending the 2017 law at a $4.3 trillion cost plus adding in $1.3 trillion of new tax cuts.

Whatever reasoning is causing the IRS internal structure to be eviscerated will certainly further reduce future revenues.

The IRS, once an 11-inch dinner plate, is now a 6.5-inch appetizer plate. The meal placed on that plate has not changed.

Efficiency means achieving goals at minimal cost or effort. Let’s not pretend that whatever is driving the chaotic approach to the IRS is efficient.