I have very mixed emotions on this. The guy shouldn't have stolen the records let alone sell them. The "super rich" obviously shouldn't have evaded taxes. And the government shouldn't be wasting so much of the tax payers' dollars. If effective tax rates were 20% instead of 40-60%, I wonder what impact that would have on tax evasion.
And the government shouldn't be wasting so much of the tax payers' dollars.
Wasting how exactly? Purchasing these CDs? The windfall for the governments of the World that have purchased this data and are prosecuting the people on the list is twofold:
a) they'll recoup all the money they're spending on this data and prosecution through the settlements with tax evaders (I don't see any lawyer recommending their client to fight this.. best is to settle and pay the gov what it thinks it's due and hope to somehow avoid jail)
b) it will have a huge effect as a deterrent and a tax windfall will be pretty big over the coming years.
Looks like an excellent investment to me (and I don't remember last time I've seen gov invest wisely).
