Comment by ethbr1

> the amount of enforcement activity has been pretty finely tuned for decades to optimize ROI

And then cut by 20% by the current adminstration [0].

I'd phrase the question of auditing lower income filers vs higher income filers differently -- do you think people with higher incomes should feel safer about cheating on their taxes?

Because average recoveries do scale with income [1]; unsurprisingly, it seems wealthy people commit tax fraud too [2].

While catching the low-hanging fruit (and therefore better ROI) is one goal, it needs to be balanced with ensuring there are similar levels of compliance (or penalties where it's lacking) in higher income payers.

[0] https://taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/cuts-spending-and-staff-d...

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/05/upshot/tax-audits-wealthy...

[2] https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-launches-new-effort-aimed-a... https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-tops-1-billion-in-past-due-... https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/yellen-touts-irs-enforc...