The biggest beneficiaries of a weakened IRS are big corporations. They have the resources to hire the best accountants in the world who can help them weave subtle, complicated tax deceptions — and also the resources to hire the best tax attorneys in the rare case of an audit. The IRS doesn’t have the money to go after the wealthy. Between 2011 to 2018, audit rates for people making between $1 to $5 million a year dropped by 81%. For those making over $10 million, it dropped 78%. The big travesty is that the richest 1% are now getting audited at almost the same rate as low-income Americans claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit , who typically make around $20,000 a year: 1.56% and 1.41%, respectively. The IRS’ scrutiny of EITC recipients is in large part due to Republican lawmakers insisting that EITC fraud is a significant reason for the U.S. government not getting the taxes it’s owed. In 2015, Congress passed a law requiring the IRS to hold refunds for EITC recipients who file early , so that they can’t receive them before mid-February, even though it’s often EITC recipients who need their refunds soonest