Residents of Alcorn County more likely to be audited by IRS than average, study shows

A rural county in the Mississippi delta is the most heavily audited in the United States according to a new study. Alcorn Countians get audited at a rate 12% higher than the national average.

According to the income tax audit information from ProPublica:

Humphreys County, Mississippi, seems like an odd place for the IRS to go hunting for tax cheats. It’s a rural county in the Mississippi Delta known for its catfish farms, and more than a third of its mostly African American residents are below the poverty line. But according to a new study, it is the most heavily audited county in America.

The national average for being audited is 7.7 per 1000 returns. In Humphreys county, a poor mostly African American county in the delta, it is 11.8 per 1000. In Alcorn County, it is 8.5 per 1000. In Tippah County it is 8.6 per 1000.

You can see the complete report here.