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“Low-income taxpayers ... if you compare their audit rate to everyone else, it was tons higher,” said Sue Long, co-founder and co-director of Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC).IRS data, obtained by TRAC, shows the agency is relying on mail audits of low-income Americans far more than ever before, and auditing those taxpayers more than wealthy Americans. TRAC found the lowest-income taxpayers are five times more likely to get audited than taxpayers who make more than $25,000 per year.
Long says many IRS audit decisions are a product of chronic underfunding. The agency's slashing of revenue agents over the last decade has left most wealthy taxpayers and corporations unchecked. But mail audits of simple, low-income tax returns have become a tool for the IRS to conduct more audits in less time.“They just don't have the resources. ... That's Congress's fault,” Long said. “But the question becomes, while the IRS can't do everything, should it just pick taxpayers to audit because they're easy targets?”
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