If you’ve ever been targeted for a tax audit — or shudder at the prospect — you’ll want to read Joe Schoffstall‘s latest contribution to the Washington Free Beacon.

The Internal Revenue Service targets individual taxpayers and corporations for audits at higher rates when Democrats are in control of the White House, according to a study highlighted by Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center for Media, Politics and Public Policy.

The study by Sutirtha Bagchi, an assistant professor of economics at Villanova University, examined IRS budget and personnel figures dating back to 1978 to determine “whether presidential administrations use executive power to affect IRS resources and priorities and thus influence the effective tax rate to support their larger policy goals,” according to the Shorenstein Center.

The study found a statistically significant correlation between the party of the president and the number of individual income tax returns audited by the IRS. On average, four percent more individual income tax audits were performed under Democratic administrations than under Republican administrations.

Corporate income tax audits were found to be five percent higher under Democratic administrations than under Republican administrations.

The study found that the party in control of the House of Representatives and the Senate had no statistical impact on the frequency of audits.

Harvard’s Shorenstein Center highlighted the study as the IRS faces criticism for targeting conservative groups that sought tax-exempt status before the 2012 presidential election.