Hence why the IRS has to actually pay people to review tax returns against other sources of information. We know that cheating happens on a regular basis becaus

Hence why the IRS has to actually pay people to review tax returns against other sources of information. We know that cheating happens on a regular basis because periodically it’ll come to light in some other way but that also suggests that it’s fairly common since it would defy probability that the only people cheating were the ones who slipped up otherwise and brought their finances under more scrutiny. The easiest way to think about this: cases dropped after Republicans cut funding for investigations in 2011. There’s no reason to think that everyone became more honest at the same time, so we’re under collecting taxes by at least the gap between now and then – and well under the optimal rate where enforcement is likely enough to deter most people. https://www.propublica.org/article/after-budget-cuts-the-irs-work-against-tax-cheats-is-facing-collapse https://www.propublica.org/article/after-budget-cuts-the-irs...