A new study by Syracuse University has revealed that 87,000 IRS agents, funded jointly by Congress Democrats and President Joe Biden, could harass low-income taxpayers.
The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) is a respected research source. According to its headline, Jan. 4, it reports that while the IRS audits few millionaires, it targets many low-income families in FY 2022. ”
The IRS’s audit system was designed so that it is almost certain that audits will affect low-income earners and not millionaires. They lose money sometimes not because they are found to be gaming the system but because they lack the resources to meet audit requirements.
Erin Collins, National Taxpayer Advocate, stated that low-income taxpayers are confronted by what TRAC Syracuse called “complex issues inherent in substantiating anti poverty earned Income Tax Credit.” Collins reported that the IRS correspondence audit process was created to make the least amount of examinations possible, which results in lower customer service for taxpayers with the greatest needs.
Congress voted last year against any Republican opposition to grant the IRS $80 billion more to hire 87,000 agents. There is no way to fix the problem.
Audits are likely to target low-income earners, and will take $20 billion from the middle-class taxpayers. They will be exposed to fraud by some of the same low-income earners, but they will not have sufficient resources to correct incorrect IRS assumptions.
TRAC Syracuse reported Collins also “further blamed IRS for only providing these [low-or mid-income] individuals with a generic phone number… where they seldom can get through to the public to speak with anyone knowledgeable to help them. ”
In two years, less than 10% taxpayer calls to the IRS Help Line were answered.
This makes IRS seem more like a mob-like organisation that tries to shake people down than a fair instrument of legal collection. It borders on being a criminal.
