This is an article from the June 2025 Civitas Examiner (Volume 2, No. 3) and was written by one of our students, Apurva G. The opinions expressed herein do not reflect those of Civitas other than respect for the value of open dialogue. To read more Civitas Examiner stories or to submit your own, click here.
The first week of the Civitas internship was filled with incredible guest speakers, including Fred Goldberg. Fred Goldberg is a St. Louis native and Yale-educated tax attorney whose impressive résumé includes serving as the former Commissioner of the IRS under George H. W. Bush, holding numerous positions in the Treasury Department, and being a highly respected attorney with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. He has spoken to Civitas interns all three years that I have been in the program. This year, though, he had a surprise.
In our meeting with Fred (Mr. Goldberg was his father, so he insists on being called Fred), he introduced a special guest speaker: Alyssa Maloof Whatley. Ms. Whatley is a Georgia State University-educated tax attorney who has gained internet fame for her educational tax content across many social media platforms, including TikTok, where she has nearly 100,000 followers. Together, they spoke about many pressing issues affecting the tax system under the current administration.
Fred began the talk by highlighting the incredible impact taxes can have on addressing social issues. He introduced the Child Tax Credit, which halved childhood poverty under the Biden administration and expanded on it. He then lamented that although the Child Tax Credit still has support from both the administration and Republicans, under the “Big, Beautiful Bill,” the IRS would be required to approve the credit for families in need. He explained that this would cause an undue strain on the IRS, as 17 million children depend on the credit, and would lead to stress for millions of families trying to navigate a new system to access it.
Ms. Whatley soon joined the conversation and discussed another way the IRS is becoming a burden for families. Although automation is generally improving government efficiency, she explained that the increased use of AI within the IRS—without proper human oversight—is leading to many mistakes and hardships for people who lack the proper education or are afraid to challenge the IRS. She shared a recent pro bono case her firm took on, in which an automated system audited a client who had forgotten to file her taxes because she was a single working mother. Instead of offering support, the IRS, through an automated audit, claimed the client owed $7,000. Ms. Whatley and her firm later discovered that the client was due a return, not a bill.
Ms. Whatley stated that cases like this are the reason she continues her TikTok presence alongside her legal career—to provide advice to people who may not otherwise be able to afford a lawyer. She also offered advice to aspiring lawyers who may be unsure about pursuing law. She described being a lawyer as “advocating for people and telling their story” and recommended that those interested in law become strong communicators. She also encouraged aspiring lawyers to gain as much experience in the legal field as possible before attending law school to better understand their goals and to find their “niche” more easily.
Nearing the end of our discussion, a student asked what an ideal IRS would look like to these two tax attorneys. Both agreed that for the IRS to function at its best, it must be well-funded and non-political. They noted that the IRS has been underfunded for decades and cannot hire young talent. This issue, they said, is being exacerbated by the current administration’s plan to cut the IRS budget by $2.4 billion. Ms. Whatley also emphasized the need to modernize the IRS, sharing that she still has to fax documents to the agency. Fred added that the IRS frequently loses individual records that aren’t backed up digitally.
Fred concluded the talk with a fitting analogy. He said the IRS is like a house with a broken foundation. Rather than tearing down the house and starting over, each administration just adds more stories in the form of regulations, which only burdens the structure further. He emphasized that a complete overhaul of the IRS is both imminent and necessary.
