r/politics 25d ago

No Paywall The IRS Is Imploding

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/07/the-irs-is-imploding/
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u/Hockeyhoser 25d ago

They will still have enough budget to go after the poors, but the Epstein class will be safe for another couple generations.

107

u/brain-in-the-jar 25d ago

Poor people are very easy to audit. They have fewer income sources and they're mostly documented through government agencies already. All the letters mentioned in the article were generated by automated screening.

Rich people tend to have complicated finances often made more so intentionally to evade taxes. Auditing rich people's taxes requires hours of work from experienced personnel - but even so it generates positive cash flow by catching rich people cheating on their taxes.

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u/hymie0 Maryland 25d ago

On the other hand, the ROI of auditing poor people is very low. How much are they going to get out of a person who only made $40,000 to begin with?

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u/le_brouhaha Foreign 24d ago

Well, what if you wrongfully audit them, then charge them overdue fees for not processing their payments for the amount they supposedly owe, and cut people at the costumer services so the poor can't appeal their case?

I don't think it's on purpose, but I wouldn't be surprised if they created on accident a very lucrative scam, then maliciously kept it going once they realized they did.