Germany: When Government Incites Crime And Becomes A Receiver Of Stolen Goods

Background

I will not go into much of the details of this disturbing story here, but I may amend later.

In their quest to uncover tax evaders, the federal government of Germany as well as at least one German state government bought stolen digital storage media containing bank customer data, which were illegally obtained from banks in Switzerland. These purchases have been going on for some time.

Government Becomes A Promoter Of Crime

It has been reported that German tax authority officials actively pursued these purchases of stolen goods even by traveling to Switzerland. Switzerland has indeed indicted German tax enforcement officers for doing that.

Would a private person become a receiver of such stolen goods (German: Hehler), this person would surely be indicted by prosecutors.

Is Tax Evasion A Crime?

If tax evasion is a crime what kind of crime is it? First and foremost, your legitimately hard earned money is your property. Therefore, it is one of the highest priorities of any government to exercise great restraint in taxing its citizens.

When government resorts to such illegal and desperate measures to go after tax evaders, then this sure is a sign that taxes in this country are too high or even confiscatory, which in fact they are.

Significant and broadly based tax evasion by tax payers is usually a tell tale sign that the tax burden in that country is too high.

Why do people refuse to give away their hard earned money to the government? Perhaps they feel they are disproportionally affected by taxation. Perhaps, they feel that government is wasting their money or accumulating too much debt.

Except for tax evasion, tax evaders are likely law abiding citizens in most other aspects of their life. Probably, they are not professional criminals.

Voting With Your Money

Political elections in Western democracies happen too infrequent and their outcomes often are unsatisfactory.

Thus, if a person strongly feels unsatisfied with the government and if the tax burden is high then voting with your money (a.k.a. tax evasion) is perhaps legitimate as a vote with the ballot.

Tax evaders risk indictment to express their views.