IRS targeted poorest taxpayers while millionaires went mostly unscathed in 2022: report

Monthly IRS audit data analyzed by Syracuse University revealed that the lowest income bracket is five times more likely to face an audit than are the wealthiest taxpayers.

The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University examines internal IRS management reports each month, and the group noticed different trends by reviewing 2022 data. Most notably, the group looked at audits, particularly considering the agency relying more heavily on automatically produced letters sent to taxpayers.  Peter Aitken is a Fox News Digital reporter with a focus on national and global news. 

The data showed that the IRS conducted 85% of its audits through these letters, which request additional information and documentation related to specific items of interest. Overall audits dropped from 659,003 in FY 2021 to 626,204 in FY 2022 out of 164 million income tax returns filed last year.