Volkswagen’s Emissiongate May Include Tax Crimes
Jack lists seven statutes that VW Emissiongate minions might be charged under (There are probably more). Some of them might surprise you. For example it is possible to be charged with tax evasion for enabling otherwise innocent taxpayers to improperly reduce their reported tax liability. That’s a three-year felony. Also a three-year felony are “Attempts to interfere with administration of internal revenue laws”. More apparent are tax perjury, a three-year felony, and false statements, a five-year felony.
Just so you know, there will not be somebody named Hans charged with 60,000 counts of tax evasion and sentenced to 180,000 years. How much time anybody serves will likely be ultimately limited by the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. One of the factors considered in tax crimes, however, is the size of the tax loss, which in this case might be, as we say, a number.
Paul Caron’s Day By Day IRS Scandal Has Jumped The Shark – Conclusion
As I noted in Part I, I consider Paul Caron the dean of the tax blogosphere, so it seems rather arrogant of me to make suggestions about how he should run his blog, but as it happens, my blogging persona is kind of on the arrogant side. What I would like to see happen with the day by day IRS Scandal is some sort of boundary around what the scandal is which would result in quite a few days where there is nothing to report. We will continue to see flurries of activity for at least the next year or two as various pieces of litigation play out, but there might be more and more days with nothing to report. I think a policy like that would prevent the high quality of the series from being diluted. And of course, if Professor Caron were to do something like Day 900 All Quiet on The IRS Scandal Front, the commenters would be sure to point out anything he missed.
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Over and over again courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging one’s affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everybody does so, rich or poor; and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands: taxes are enforced exactions, not voluntary contributions. To demand more in the name of morals is mere cant.