comment: >
  
  Is that after adjusting for wealth, or is this just another story about racial wealth disparities?
context: The findings do not suggest bias from individual tax enforcement agents, who do not know the race of the people they are auditing. They also do not suggest any valid reason for the I.R.S. to target Black Americans at such high rates; there is no evidence that group engages in more tax evasion than others.
  Instead, the findings document discrimination in the computer algorithms the agency uses to determine who is selected for an audit, according to the study by economists from Stanford University, the University of Michigan, the University of Chicago and the Treasury Department. >
  
  So, if the algorithm doesn't know the race of the filer... what's causing it to trigger on AA/Black population more than others?
  Sorry not assuming you know, just wanted somewhere to put the thought. >
  
  I'd guess since it's an established fact that the IRS audits lower economic classes for auditing because they don't have to contend with opposing lawyers or otherwise sophisticated targets, and black people are disproportionately in the lower economic class, it's an unintended consequence of IRS practices. >
  
  Ah, that makes more sense. >
  
  And wonder why the white dominated republican party is so scared of a more funded IRS? As usual, they are scared of being treated the same way that their entrenched power system treats black people. >
  
  I'm going to say the reasons Republicans want to defund the IRS has absolutely nothing to do with this. 
  But unsurprisingly again, the IRS doesn't care about the rich. Doesn't matter how much money you give them or take away, they'll target the average person who isn't going to pay for lawyers, go into months of litigation, etc. >
  
  
  But unsurprisingly again, the IRS doesn't care about the rich. 
  
  I'm not sure why you are blaming the IRS here.   Republicans have blocked proper funding of the IRS at every turn.   The only method the IRS has left to maintain tax revenue is through targeting the simple tax returns.  Back taxpayers tend to have lower incomes and the errors in their tax returns are easy for algorithms to identify and report.   
  The ability to target rich income tax returns will require more funding.   So ask the Republicans why they keep blocking the IRS from the proper funding do these kinds of complex audits of the rich.
  
  And Black taxpayers appear to disproportionately file returns with the sort of potential errors that are easy for I.R.S. systems to identify, like underreporting certain income or claiming tax credits that the taxpayer does not qualify for, the authors find.
  
  Simplifying the tax code for everyone earning a middle class income or less would also go along ways but that is also blocked by companies like TurboTax ( a company that sees an overly complex tax code as a feature and not a bug). >
  
  What the I.R.S. chooses to focus on when it conducts audits can either undercut or complement our progressive tax system, >
  
  The suggestion of bias here seems really weird. They say it could be because of the EITC audits but then say they controlled for that. They mention business income, which I guess they didn’t control for, but then they say this:
  
  And Black taxpayers appear to disproportionately file returns with the sort of potential errors that are easy for I.R.S. systems to identify, like underreporting certain income or claiming tax credits that the taxpayer does not qualify for, the authors find.
  
  I’m not sure what “potential errors” means as opposed to “actual errors”, exactly, but this doesn’t sound like bias. Your return will get automatically flagged if things on your return aren’t matching up with other documents, like your reported income and your W-2 or whatever. If black people are doing that more than other people, they will simply have more “audits” than other people, in which they get a letter saying “Hey, this doesn’t match.”
  To be clear, we absolutely need more human enforcement so that we don’t just “catch” people doing their own taxes and making dumb mistakes, but trying to make this into a racist algorithm story seems to miss the mark here, at least based on the sentence above.
  (The IRS could also certainly be using some of that automation to work for us, by giving us what they think our income is and what credits they think we are eligible for instead of keeping it to themselves.) >
  
  I’d add that it’d be nice if our tax code wasn’t so overly-complex that errors are almost inescapable >
  
  I will say, they offer the Free File program to anyone who makes under $73,000 where you can use various private tax-preparation software vendors for free, but most people don’t know about that program. >
  
  So wait, you're saying that the US federal government, the government of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, hands out a disproportionate amount of punishment from it's legal arm to Black people? You've gotta be kidding me!?!?!? >
  
  Not saying this isn't important reporting, just saying I'm not surprised.... >
  
  We need to fund the IRS more and go after the rich...