LogFAQs > #967530652

something i want to emphasize for the next time you read a free article on how the IRS targets the poorest families (sponsored by koch industries!) is that the audit rate for families that report income from 1-25,000 is minimally different from that of anyone earning under 500,000 and half of that of people earning over 500,000

the entirety of the narrative is built on the IRS's (rational) high rate of audits on people who report no positive income whatsoever

as a point of comparison, there's 600k such returns in this category, vs 56 million returns in the 1-25,000 category

so it's not "millions of poor families being oppressed by the evil IRS"

it's the tiny subcategory of returns that is highly likely to contain very obvious attempts at EITC fraud--low hanging fruit. but all the sponsored content you'll see wants you thinking about is how funding the IRS is bad because it hurts poor people somehow, and don't worry too much about how or if that's even true!

https://www.irs.gov/about-irs/irs-audit-rates-significantly-increase-as-income-rises