Additional Coverage:
President-elect Donald Trump has appointed Elon Musk to lead a new Department of Government Efficiency. The department’s goal is to cut government spending and reduce regulations.
One of the department’s first targets is the tax system. Sources say Musk’s team is considering developing a mobile app that would allow Americans to file their taxes for free. This could pose a threat to companies like H&R Block and Intuit, whose stock prices fell after the news.
Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who are both supporters of Trump, have been tasked with cutting $2 trillion from the federal budget and eliminating entire government departments. However, experts say these goals may be unrealistic.
Musk’s department has posted on social media, seeking “super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries” and proposing an online leaderboard for wasteful government spending.