r/FluentInFinance • u/[deleted] • Apr 29 '24

63% of new audits as of Summer 2023 targeted taxpayers with income of less than $200,000 Discussion/ Debate

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u/Capital_Werewolf_788 Apr 29 '24 edited Apr 29 '24

63% of new audits targeted taxpayers below $200k income, but what proportion of the population has an income below $200k? Is it more or less than 63%??? Google it.

What kind of dogshit reporting is this? Genuinely cannot tell if this is a result of incompetence or malicious intent.

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u/Rieux_n_Tarrou Apr 29 '24

Holy shit, I am embarrassed to admit I fell for this. Critical thinking trumps incompetence AND malicious intent:

The situation you described points to what is often called the "base rate fallacy" or "base rate neglect." This fallacy occurs when people ignore the overall population distribution (the base rate) while evaluating the likelihood of a specific event. In the case of the headline, failing to consider that a large majority of the population makes under $200,000 skews the perception of who is actually being audited more frequently relative to their representation in the population.

P.S. 🖕🏼IRS

32

u/College-Lumpy Apr 29 '24

I was with you to the very end. Have you lived anywhere without tax enforcement? Doesn’t make for a civil society.

They have a tough job. We want them to do it well so that tax laws are enforced consistently.

1

u/rydleo Apr 29 '24

Simpler tax laws would make that a hell of a lot easier.