Black Americans are three to five times more likely to face audits by the Internal Revenue Service than other racial groups.

According to a report in the New York Times, these are the findings of a recent study by economists from Stanford University, the Treasury Department, the University of Chicago and the University of Michigan.

During the study, researchers found that while the IRS doesn’t mandate taxpayers to report their race, Black Americans receive audits at higher rates due to bias in the IRS’ automated system’s algorithm that selects returns for audits.

The data showed that one of the main reasons Black Americans are selected for IRS audits is that they disproportionately have lower incomes and claim the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). 

However, the study also found that Black Americans are audited more than people of other races who also claim the EITC.

While researchers said they don’t believe the bias is intentional, they admit that the IRS’s algorithm is a secret. The study comes after years of accusations of implicit racism and bias in America’s tax system.

“What the IRS chooses to focus on when it conducts audits can either undercut or complement our progressive tax system,” said Daniel Ho, one of the study’s authors.

“Historically, there has been this idea that if federal agencies and other policymakers don’t have access to data on race and don’t explicitly take race into account when making policy decisions and allocating resources, the resulting outcome can’t be structurally biased,” said Evelyn Smith, another author of the study.

She added the study proves that the assumption “absolutely is not true.”

Researchers said the IRS could help level the playing field by programming its algorithms to target more complicated returns. However, in 2020, when lawmakers suggested taking similar steps, then-IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig said it wasn’t so simple to do.

“The IRS cannot simply shift examination resources from single issue correspondence audits to more complex higher income audits because of employee experience and skillset,” Rettig said in a report. “Congress must fund and the IRS must hire and train appropriate numbers of [auditors] to have appropriately balanced coverage across all income levels.”

Emory Professor Dorothy Brown published a book about racism in the tax code titled “The Whiteness of Wealth” in 2021. She said her research showed that not only are Black Americans audited at higher rates, but tax policy is also designed in a way that helps white Americans while harming Black Americans.

“My research shows that whenever Black Americans engage in the same activity as white Americans, tax policy will advantage how white Americans engage in the activity and disadvantage how Black Americans engage in the activity,” Brown said in an interview.