UNEXPECTEDLY: As It Redefines ‘Rich,’ the IRS Is Coming Aggressively For You.

While there was a brief burst of news stories earlier this year alleging that African-American taxpayers were being audited at higher rates than others, and that poor taxpayers were as well, there’s really no question about what’s about to happen. “(The IRS) needs access to information about opaque income streams—like proprietorship and partnership income—that accrue disproportionately to high-earners,” read another IRS release.

So they’re making no bones about it. But the Tax Foundation’s data says that the top 1% of earners income level starts at $550,000 – which a successful two-earner family can easily reach these days. That means that it’s not just the private jet crowd that the IRS is coming for. The top 10% of earners in the U.S. pay 74% of all income tax collections in the US – and that income cohort starts at just $155,000.

That’s not “rich” by anyone’s definition except the IRS’s. A policeman married to a schoolteacher can easily hit this threshold – as can a solo income IT professional. So increasingly, all successful working people are “rich people” to the IRS.

They’re from the government and they’re here to help.