How would Sensible Tax Reform affect the mafia, drug dealers and other crooks?
The Internal Revenue Service estimates that the tax gap (the amount of taxes that is due and should be paid but which is either overlooked or deliberately evaded) exceeds $300 billion annually. Crooks, of course, do not generally report any of their ill-gotten income. They also cheat by not paying Social Security and Medicare taxes. However, both legitimate businesses and individuals also cheat on their taxes by failing to file, overstating exemptions, deductions and credits, and especially by under-reporting income. Under Sensible Tax Reform, businesses will owe neither Social Security/Medicare nor income taxes. Individuals will owe no Social Security/Medicare or estate taxes and only the very rich will owe any income taxes. Most of the current sources of the tax gap will find it very difficult to cheat the federal consumption tax. It will be much harder for crooks to avoid taxes when they spend. Even the mafia and drug dealers spend most of their income domestically in the U.S. Altho
