Andy Kroll ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. Dave Nershi was finalizing a report he’d worked on for months when an ominous email appeared in his inbox.

New reports indicate that Elon Musk may hit the agency with a second round of mass layoffs, and that audits could be abandoned amid the diminished headcount.

Now, with fewer people keeping watch, one former IRS commissioner said the move amounts to “a tax cut for tax cheats.”