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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIRS: Sorry, but It's Just Easier and Cheaper to Audit the Poor
The IRS audits the working poor at about the same rate as the wealthiest 1%. Now, in response to questions from a U.S. senator, the IRS has acknowledged thats true but professes it cant change anything unless it is given more money.
ProPublica reported the disproportionate audit focus on lower-income families in April. Lawmakers confronted IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig about the emphasis, citing our stories, and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., asked Rettig for a plan to fix the imbalance. Rettig readily agreed.
ast month, Rettig replied with a report, but it said the IRS has no plan and wont have one until Congress agrees to restore the funding it slashed from the agency over the past nine years something lawmakers have shown little inclination to do.
On the one hand, the IRS said, auditing poor taxpayers is a lot easier: The agency uses relatively low-level employees to audit returns for low-income taxpayers who claim the earned income tax credit. The audits of which there were about 380,000 last year, accounting for 39% of the total the IRS conducted are done by mail and dont take too much staff time, either. They are the most efficient use of available IRS examination resources, Rettigs report says.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.propublica.org/article/irs-sorry-but-its-just-easier-and-cheaper-to-audit-the-poor/amp
Wounded Bear
(58,647 posts)nilram
(2,886 posts)The returns of the 1% or more complicated and difficult to audit, plus they can afford expensive lawyers and accountants.