Report: Most IRS Audits Target Low-Income Black Counties in the South

A detailed view of where and how the IRS spends its time auditing taxpayers should give anyone pause when considering the agency wants to add 87,000 new agents to its ranks.

You’d think, since it’s endlessly repeated, that the IRS would spend time auditing and targeting only wealthy individuals and corporations. Those who stand to gain by using the tax code to hide income in shell companies or claim credits they’re otherwise not entitled to.

That’s not the case in practical terms, however, where data shows most audits happen to individuals earning less than $20,000 per year and who claim the Earned Income Tax Credit. In other words, the people who can least afford an audit and can least afford to spend money on representation to help them fight an audit or spend the time dealing with it.

This map, courtesy of ProPublica, shows the “hot spots” around the country that disproportionately receive the vast majority of IRS audits.

The overriding theme is that the areas claim more low-income inhabitants and are predominantly black: