Economic Crime: Tax Offenses

A traditional view holds that criminal tax offenses exist to combat tax evasion. Tax evasion is indeed a widespread, serious, and persistent problem in the United States and elsewhere. In the last part of the twentieth century, however, the United States government broadened its criminal enforcement focus from the suppression of classical tax evasion to a more general attack on crime, including drug dealing and financial crimes. The federal government still prosecutes tax cheats, but at the turn of the century "criminal tax enforcement" more accurately represents a particular style of investigation than a single-minded effort to secure the federal fisc.