re: The IRS says blacks more likely to face audit, says it will do more to erase disparities

I genuinely want a problem fixed. But since race isn’t obvious on the return, I have to ask why. The red light camera analogy is a good one. The camera is not biased.

If the outcome is that blacks are more likely to be audited - then figure out why this is the case. If we are scrutinizing a system just because of the results, why not also scrutinize the inputs?

Is there more fraud? Is that was is getting audited?

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The IRS should not know if the taxpayer is black, white, Oriental or whatever.

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This. Why do they even know what race the taxpayer is. Should be completely irrelevant in collections.

When did welfare recipients start getting audited?

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Could it be related to number of claimed dependents?

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The Stanford researchers should go sit in a cheap tax prep office and help those employees figure out whether they are adding dependents that do not exist or are already claimed by somebody else

Once again they stop at the a ha racism moment. Did they compare incomes, forms filed, history of underpaying taxes, history of audits, history of fake deductions, not filing taxes in previous years, preparer, large income gains, asset sales, location, etc?

There are probably 100 data points you’d have to look at to draw any conclusion. I’d be willing to wager it is automated software that kicks off the audit.

Self filing, low income and cash businesses draw the most audits. The IRS does not pursue anyone who can defend themselves. Unless it’s political.

Rightfully mistrusting? So you go to someone who is either incompetent or croooked? Anyone doing that deserves an audit. Sounds racist to me.

[quote]A big part of the issue could stem from the high number of black tax payers who use tax preparers in the neighborhood who aren't really tax professionals. I have known a bunch of black folks who prepare tax returns with no training or anything...most tax returns are fairly simple for individuals but some are not and need to be done by a competent professional. The number of people preparing tax returns in black communities without any training or certification stems from black folks rightfully mistrusting white tax preparers...also stems from the idea of keeping the money in the community, to a lesser extent. That is understandable and laudable but it is not without risk, especially if the return is complicated. Most are not, especially with recent tax changes which eliminated the ability to itemize for most individuals...anyone can do that return without fear of audit because there is nothing to audit, the numbers are what they are and the preparation merely consists of putting them in the right spot on the form.[/quote--


In 2009, I lived in Texas, one of my co-workers had a side hustle where he did taxes. He rented a cheap office from a friend and set up shop with a couple of other dudes. He had no experience. He told me he would charge everyone $150 and use turbo tax to do their taxes ( using the free filing offered). He'd help them do a "rapid refund", and field calls from them when they were afraid they were not getting their return. It only took them about 15 days to get a refund, so the customer service is minimal. He told me he made a couple of grand every year during tax season doing this.

So now you get to cheat on your taxes more if you are black!

My ex used to have a daycare business and had six or seven black woman working for her. They all used the same bunch of kid's social security numbers along with fake names on their returns to cash in on the Earned Income Credit. To her knowledge, they were never caught or questioned about it.