Tax Audits of Millionaires on the rise. Funds collected from audits rose $57.6 Billion last year.

Blake Ellis of CNN Money reports that the IRS is getting far more aggressive especially among the very wealthy. 

Those who make more than $10 million as a grow saw their chances of a tax audit rise 73% last year and 18% of those taxpayers were audited according to the IRS released stats. 

"There's always been this public perception that the rich are getting away with murder and the poor guy is left footing the bill," said Thomas Cooke, professor of accounting and business law at Georgetown University. "It's true that historically the low income earner was more likely to be subject to an examination than a high income earner, but now the higher income taxpayer is getting the greater focus."

Taxpayers making between $5 million and $10 million were also under more scrutiny last year. The IRS examined nearly 12% of the returns it received from people in this tax bracket -- a 54% jump from the previous year.

Regular millionaires were in the crosshairs as well. Audits of taxpayers with income over $1 million increased 15% last year.

The move to crack down on millionaires comes as the IRS looks to boost revenue and to improve its image among average taxpayers who think the IRS favors the wealthy, said Cooke.

Because rich taxpayers can often afford to spend more money on tax preparers and accountants, the perception has been that they can cheat the system more easily than the average Joe who is doing his taxes with a company like TurboTax or on his own.

More audits of the wealthy mean more revenue for the tax agency; funds collected from auditing jumped 18% to $57.6 billion last year.

"The IRS is looking for additional sources of revenue, and the higher the income, the greater the potential reward when the IRS finds mistakes," Cooke said.

In fact, the IRS has even launched a unit to specifically monitor high income individuals, called the Global High Wealth Industry unit, which took effect last year.

But a jump in audits doesn't necessarily mean that the IRS will hit the jackpot immediately. Many audits aren't resolved for several years, so the IRS will need to gauge how much money the new enforcement efforts bring in over the next few years. And the agency is only likely to continue ramping up audits of the wealthy if a significant amount of money is collected as a result.

While millionaires were hit the hardest, the IRS boosted enforcement across the board last year. Overall, the IRS audited 1.58 million tax returns last year, or about 1.11% of all the returns it received.

So that means the chances of getting audited are still slim, but 8% higher than in 2009 and double what they were in 2001.