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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (April 17, 2019)
Page 10 The Skanner Portland & Seattle April 17, 2019 By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Correspondent @StacyBrownMedia .S. Senator Doug Jones (D-Ala.) has sent a letter to Commission- er Charles Rettig of the Internal Revenue Ser- vice calling for answers about a recent report that revealed that Afri- can Americans are audit- ed by the IRS more than any other group. Jones also noted a re- port that showed people in more rural, low-in- come areas of the coun- try were being audited at disproportionately high rates. Further, a study of re- cent audit data suggested that taxpayers in nearly every county in Alabama U were audited at a rate higher than the national average, and the rate was even higher in areas of the Black Belt. “To concentrate so ex- clusively on this subset of taxpayers defies ex- planation,” Jones wrote in the April 4 letter to the IRS. “For example, in Greene County, Alabama (population, 8,330), with a median household in- come of less than $21,000, it appears that taxpay- ers are audited over 40 percent more often than the national average, including areas that are much more urban and wealthy,” he said. “For comparison, Ber- gen County, New Jersey, with a median popula- tion of nearly 1 million residents, and a median household income of over $90,000, has an au- dit rate that matches the national average,” Jones said. In his letter, Jones called it no anomaly. The chances of an IRS audit seem to correlate nearly exactly with the taxpay- er’s proximity to either the rural Southeast or, in several stark cases, to Native American reser- vations. According to IRS statis- tics, the annual “tax gap,” or the gross gap between total taxes owed and total taxes paid on time was over $450 billion. “To take such a large portion of limited IRS resources and to focus them so intensely on ru- ral communities in Ala- bama and the Southeast makes little fiscal sense. Moreover, the practice appears to be blatantly discriminatory,” he said. In an effort to focus its resources and ensure fair treatment of all tax- payers, Jones said he believes the IRS should undertake a full and thorough review of the policies and practices that led to such a dispa- rate geographic impact of its annual audits. “Given the overwhelm- ing focus on my constit- uents in the state of Al- abama, I would request you respond to the fol- lowing questions: Does the IRS have any official policy dictating that low-income or rural geographic areas be sub- jected to increased audit rates? Does the IRS, in any manner, consider the taxpayer’s address in determining whether to conduct an audit? Has the IRS conduct- ed a study or analysis on the fiscal impact of PHOTO: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS News Senator Doug Jones Asks IRS to Explain Disproportionate Auditing of Minorities “To concentrate so exclusively on this subset of taxpayers defies explanation,” Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) wrote in the April 4 letter to the IRS. its current practice of geographically concen- trating audits versus the fiscal impact of a system that resulted in more evenly dispersed audits? Similarly, has the IRS conducted a study or analysis on the fiscal im- pact of its current prac- tice concentrating audits in low-income and rural communities versus the fiscal impact of a system that resulted in audits being conducted in geo- graphic proportion to the amount of expected tax revenue? Has the IRS conducted a study or analysis on the impact of increasing pre-filing education or tax filing assistance in the communities cur- rently oversampled for tax audits, and the effect this education or filing assistance may have on reducing employee hours spent on subse- quent audits? Kenya’s Cherono Wins Men’s Boston Marathon in Sprint to Tape Lawrence Cherono finished Monday race in 2 hours, 7 minutes, 57 seconds By Jimmy Golen AP Sports Writer BOSTON — The two- time Boston Marathon champion turned onto Boylston Street with a sliver of a lead, leaning in front of two others with the finish line in sight. But one of them was Lawrence Cherono, the fastest man in the field. And he needed every bit of his speed. Cherono outkicked Lelisa Desisa and passed him just steps away from the tape, winning the 123rd Boston Marathon in 2 hours, 7 minutes 57 seconds on Monday to claim his first major vic- tory. Desisa, the Ethiopian who won the 2013 race that was marred by the finish line bombing and claimed a second victory in ‘15, eased up after real- izing he was beaten and finished 2 seconds back. Kenneth Kipkemoi was third, another 8 seconds behind, one of seven Kenyans in the top 10. Worknesh Degefa broke away from de- fending champion Des Linden and the rest of the women’s pack in the Framingham flats and ran alone for the last 20 miles to her first major marathon victory. The 28-year-old Ethio- pian finished in 2:23:31 to become the eighth Ethi- opian woman to win the race and the third in sev- en years. Kenya’s Edna Kiplagat was second, American Jordan Has- ay was third and Linden was fifth. One year after an icy rain and a near-gale headwind resulted in the slowest winning times in four decades, race or- ganizers again prepared for the foul New England weather. But overnight thunderstorms moved on before the runners left Hopkinton; the sun even made an appear- ance about halfway through. Linden took advan- tage of last year’s storm to splash her way to the first win for an Ameri- can woman since 1985. But with conditions back to normal, so were the results: East Africans from Kenya and Ethiopia dominating the podiums. A field of 30,000 run- ners followed the elites, ditching their trash bags and ponchos on the Hop- kinton Green before em- barking on the 26.2-mile trek from Hopkinton to Copley Square. It’s the first time the race has been run on April 15 since the 2013 attacks; of- ficials planned a ceremo- ny at 2:49 p.m. to honor those killed or maimed by the two pressure cook- er bombs that exploded near the finish line. Daniel Romanchuk, 20, became the youngest-ev- er men’s wheelchair champion in Boston. He finished in 1:21:36 for the fastest time ever for an American.