The IRS has disproportionately audited poorer Americans in recent years.
An analysis by Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) found that low-income wage earners with less than $25,000 in total earnings were audited at a rate five times higher than everyone else in fiscal year 2021. The reason? IRS has put an emphasis on auditing beneficiaries of the Earned Income Tax Credit, which is used predominantly by poor and working-class families.
News site ProPublica found that based on 2017 tax return information, Earned Income Tax Credit recipients were audited at twice the rate of taxpayers with income between $200,000 and $500,000. Only millionaires had a higher audit rate, the news organization found.
The investigative arm of Congress confirmed such findings in a report this spring, saying audits disproportionately affected people making less than $200,000.
"From fiscal years 2010 to 2021, the majority of the additional taxes IRS recommended from audits came from taxpayers with incomes below $200,000," the Government Accountability Office reported.
"Audits of the lowest-income taxpayers, particularly those claiming the EITC, resulted in higher amounts of recommended additional tax per audit hour compared to all income groups except for the highest-income taxpayers," it added.
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An analysis by Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) found that low-income wage earners with less than $25,000 in total earnings were audited at a rate five times higher than everyone else in fiscal year 2021. The reason? IRS has put an emphasis on auditing beneficiaries of the Earned Income Tax Credit, which is used predominantly by poor and working-class families.
News site ProPublica found that based on 2017 tax return information, Earned Income Tax Credit recipients were audited at twice the rate of taxpayers with income between $200,000 and $500,000. Only millionaires had a higher audit rate, the news organization found.
The investigative arm of Congress confirmed such findings in a report this spring, saying audits disproportionately affected people making less than $200,000.
"From fiscal years 2010 to 2021, the majority of the additional taxes IRS recommended from audits came from taxpayers with incomes below $200,000," the Government Accountability Office reported.
"Audits of the lowest-income taxpayers, particularly those claiming the EITC, resulted in higher amounts of recommended additional tax per audit hour compared to all income groups except for the highest-income taxpayers," it added.
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