CHEEKTOWAGA, NY (WKBW) — Emotions ran high Thursday as a wave of layoffs hit the IRS office at the Appletree Business Park in Cheektowaga.
Alisha Scully of Orchard Park was one of the workers affected. She was visibly emotional after learning she was terminated.
“The only thing we can do now is just have hope,” Scully said while wiping away tears.
Scully shared the disappointment of losing what she had believed to be a stable job.
“The reason we took this job was for career stability because we wanted to be with a company for a long time,” explained Scully.
As she and her colleagues grapple with the sudden layoffs, Jeff Plummer of Cheektowaga described the emotional toll of the day.
“Just like you feel sick to your stomach sitting there all day...yesterday...you’re on the phone all day with people...taxpayers are even saying, you know — I’m sorry this is going on...our managers can’t look us in the face,” Plummer described.
Richard Syracuse of East Aurora also lost his job.
“This is the best job I ever had being totally honest,” Syracuse said.
The job cuts hit especially hard for Syracuse, who is raising two young children and has a mortgage to pay.
“It feels terrible. I’ve got two kids turning four and one — mortgage. I’ve been trying to get in touch with my Congressman, Nick Langworthy, for five months — absolutely nothing — absolutely nothing,” Syracuse said with frustration.
Langworthy, who represents the 23rd Congressional District in Western New York was asked by 7 News about the IRS firings.
While he expressed sympathy for those losing their jobs, he also placed blame on the previous Biden administration, accusing it of exacerbating the issue.
“My heart goes out to anyone that loses their job, but it’s a very thriving economy right now. There’s a lot of jobs and not enough people that want them,” Langworthy replied.
The Congressman criticized the hiring of 87,000 IRS agents during the Biden administration, calling the agency "out of control” and he speculated that the expanded role was aimed at targeting small businesses.
“Simply to go after small businesspeople, to weigh into their finances to add additional audits,” claimed Langworthy.
Syracuse, who worked with small business owners, defended the agency’s purpose.
“We’re not the big, scary IRS they portray in movies...like look at me...I’m not...you know...hold somebody upside down...take change out of them or anything like that... people come to us for help,” reflected Syracuse.
As local families cope with the fallout from these layoffs, many are left wondering how these cuts will affect taxpayers in the region.
How this will affect your tax filing this tax season remains to be seen.
