A recent revelation from Sam Corcos, a technology adviser working with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has sent shockwaves through the world of federal spending. In an exclusive interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham, Corcos detailed how the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) modernization project is not only decades behind schedule but also billions of dollars over budget. According to Corcos, the upgrade has been languishing for over 35 years, with the system now costing taxpayers an extra $15 billion beyond its initial estimates.

I. A Legacy System in Crisis

Corcos, who has been tasked with reviewing the IRS’s aging computer systems and software, explained that the agency still relies on legacy infrastructure that is wildly outdated. “We’re dealing with mainframes running COBOL and Assembly,” he stated. “This technology was state‑of‑the‑art back in the 1970s, but today it’s like using a flip phone in the age of smartphones.” The modernization initiative was originally scheduled for completion in 1996, yet the project remains unfinished—a situation that has left the IRS struggling to meet its core function: efficient tax collection.

The IRS’s outdated systems not only hamper daily operations but also prevent the agency from providing Congress with an accurate picture of federal spending. Corcos revealed that the modernization program, which was supposed to streamline tax collection and improve data integration, is now so far behind schedule that the IRS continues to depend on archaic methods for processing millions of tax returns. This technology gap undermines transparency and creates a significant disconnect between the funds reported to lawmakers and the actual expenditures incurred.