I listened to a podcast, intriguingly titled “WTF does race have to do with taxes?” Exactly as its title suggests— extremely jarring. I listened to it and felt deeply unsettled. I mean, I did not expect that the IRS has been implementing racial bias in the U.S. tax system.

Recent studies by Stanford University and the Treasury Department, revealed that black taxpayers are subjected to tax audits at a rate three to five times higher than other racial groups. The cause rests on the IRS’s use of a data-driven algorithm to audit low-income taxpayers; targeting those from minority racial groups. Why? It’s because of this—money and convenience.

The gist of it is that auditing lower-income taxpayers is more beneficial and cost-effective. They are more likely to claim tax benefits; thus, prone to have higher error rates on tax returns. This, in turn, allows the IRS to levy a tax penalty to taxpayers. Here’s why it’s cost-effective: lower-income taxpayers are more likely to comply with tax penalties. Compared to higher-income taxpayers, they are able to involve lawyers in a dispute, which, in turn, makes the process more petty and costly.

Racial disparities calls for the need to adapt and advocate for change. I feel that code-switching implies more than just switching between languages; it is being adaptive to different circumstances. Low-income taxpayers, i.e., minority groups, code-switch to navigate between two situations. One, where they have no choice, but to adapt to the tax system by reaching out to tax agencies for help of financial strategies, tax-prep, and whatnot. Two, where they have to engage in advocacy efforts and actively address the racial disparities within the nation’s tax system. This duality underscores what it means to code-switch in various circumstances— in this case, racial disparities.