By Nathalie Voit

Most Americans aren’t concerned about being personally audited by the International Revenue Service (IRS), a new Morning Consult/Politico survey found.

Despite GOP warnings, the National Tracking Poll found that 76% of voters are not concerned about being audited by the IRS.

About one in four voters (24%) expressed concern about being personally targeted by the tax-collection agency.

The survey results arrived amid a proposed $80 billion boost in federal funding to the IRS. The funding infusion is part of the Democrat-sponsored Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the house will vote on the bill today).

Dubbed the “IRS Expansion Act” by some Republicans, the funding would boost the agency’s enforcement/auditing capabilities and double the size of the IRS in ten years by adding some 87,000 new workers over the next decade.

Despite the proposed expansion, most voters believe the IRS will use its new funding and workforce to target wealthy taxpayers. When Morning Consult and Politico asked which group they believe would be scrutinized the most by an increase in audits by the IRS, a plurality of respondents identified high-income earners as the most likely subject of any boost in audits (48%). 

However, the middle class was not far behind. Forty-four percent of voters said the IRS would use its newfound power to ramp up enforcement on middle-income earners. Eighteen percent of participants said lower-income Americans would bear the brunt of increased audits. 

The survey was conducted between Aug. 5–7 among a representative sample of 2,005 registered voters.