As a small business owner, I am very concerned with Sen. Carper’s support of an IRS-owned e-file system for our taxes.
In the senator’s press release and tweets supporting the e-file pilot program, he states, “we need to find what works and do more of that.” Well, let me say this, the IRS is not working for people of color. Just this week, the agency admitted Black people are more likely to be audited, backing up a Stanford University study illustrating that the federal government is disproportionately auditing Blacks at a rate of five times the average taxpayer.
If we are to create an e-file system directly owned by the federal government, my only conclusion is that Blacks will once again face a glaring racial bias.
If Sen. Carper and others want to better serve taxpayers, they should instead use the funding earmarked for this online system to expand the current volunteer income tax preparation program found at community centers, senior centers and libraries. Or, provide a tax credit to folks under a certain income that equals the average amount paid to file simple tax returns with tax prep companies or bookkeepers.
It’s hard enough to be a minority owning a business who employs other minorities. We don’t need the IRS making it harder. Until we can further investigate why this racial bias exists, we must pause the concept of a tax filing system owned by the federal government.
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