Fifteen Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday urged President Trump to fire IRS Commissioner John Koskinen.
"In order for the IRS to fully reap the benefits of new leadership and regain the trust of the American people, the Committee believes that we must have a new Commissioner appointed as soon as possible," the lawmakers wrote in a letter to the president.
The Ways and Means Committee's jurisdiction includes taxes, and the lawmakers that signed the letter included committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) and tax-policy subcommittee Chairman Peter Roskam (R-Ill.). There are 24 Republicans on the Ways and Means Committee.The call for Koskinen's removal from his position comes less than two weeks before the April 18 tax-filing deadline. The commissioner is slated to testify about the tax-filing season before the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday, but he is not scheduled to appear before the Ways and Means panel.
Koskinen was appointed by former President Barack Obama in 2013, and his term is set to expire in November. He has said in the past that he would leave the job sooner if he was requested to do so by the president.
Republicans have been very critical of Koskinen, arguing that he hindered congressional investigations into the IRS's handling of conservative groups' applications for tax-exempt status.