Tax Audits for the Poor Have Doubled

Two congressional Democrats are pressing the Internal Revenue Service for more details about why the audit rate for the lowest-earning households has nearly doubled in the past year, in face of pledges by President Joe Biden to restrain such examinations.

Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Representative Judy Chu of California asked IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig to explain a rise in audits of those earning less than $25,000, which is at odds with Biden’s policy of not increasing tax examinations for those earning less than $400,000.

“We know the IRS suffers from underfunding, and we are working to secure substantial, permanent funding so the IRS can take on the tax cheating of giant corporations and the ultra-wealthy,” the progressives Chu and Warren wrote in a letter obtained by Bloomberg News. “But, we also urge you to move swiftly to end the targeting of low-income Americans, in line with the administration’s commitment.”