In the criminal justice system, tax-based offenses are considered especially heinous. The dedicated detectives who investigate these costly felonies are members of an elite squad known as the IRS Criminal Investigations unit. These are their stories.
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Guy Math: The Drill That Keeps on Giving
By now you’ve probably heard of “girl math.” That’s the playful financial logic that turns a return into a profit or makes anything bought with cash “basically free.” Pay for Taylor Swift tickets six months in advance? By the time the concert rolls around, they cost nothing. It’s not necessarily “wrong” math. It’s “emotional” math. It explains how money feels rather than how it flows. Accountants everywhere faint when they hear it, but they faint quietly — back into their spreadsheets where they feel comfortable.
Wanted: Dead or Alive
It’s no secret Uncle Sam has been living above his means. He hasn’t balanced his budget since 2001. He put trillions on his American Express card to pay for Covid relief. And now, as he struggles to extend the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 later this year, he’s fighting to flesh out a budget resolution that authorizes $86 trillion in spending through 2034. If he was your real uncle, you might be googling “Debtors Anonymous” meetings in your neighborhood.