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by backtobecks 2413 days ago
The IRS already openly admits to not auditing the rich as its too complicated and to instead going after the less wealthy.
2 comments
BurningFrog 2413 days ago
Not true.

This is a "viralization" of the article linked below, with this very clear headline:

    The IRS Now Audits Poor Americans at About the Same Rate as the Top 1%
That's of course a problem in itself, but very far from the "internet truth" that the rich don't get audited at all.

https://www.propublica.org/article/irs-now-audits-poor-ameri...

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diffeomorphism 2412 days ago
So totally true, but using not perfectly precise language for the sake of brevity, got it.
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BurningFrog 2412 days ago
No.

"The rich are not audited" is not an imprecise way of phrasing "The rich are audited at much as everyone else".

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diffeomorphism 2412 days ago
Yes, you misread a chart and did not read the article you linked yourself.
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NovemberWhiskey 2413 days ago
Why "instead"?

The IRS has identified that certain refundable credits (EITC) have a very high error rate (25-30%). As I understand it, it has created a mostly-automated mechanism to identify the filing errors that lead to these issues.

Should the IRS not be doing that because it lacks the resources to perform audits which are less subject to automation? Or should it not be doing that because EITC is only paid to lower-income households?

Some fraction of the incorrect EITC filings are undoubtedly fraudulent. What, in your view, is the acceptable rate of potential fraud that the IRS should detect, but ignore, based on income level?

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