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Tax Time. Again.

As we issue in a new year of tax season, and as people scramble to file their taxes by today's April 15th deadline I came across a few articles on the subject of tax evasion.

This one being the most prevalent of our modern time.

Bradley Birkenfeld, the whistle-blower who helped expose widespread tax evasion in the UBS/Swiss banking industry, received 40 months in prison for conspiring to defraud the U.S. government while the people he snitched on (the 19,000 millionaires and billionaires who hid their money in Swiss (offshore) bank accounts went scot free.)

Birkenfeld took his concerns to the IRS, the US Senate, and the Security and Exchange Commission back in 2007, but to no avail.

Even while currently serving his term in prison, Birkenfeld says he'd do it all again.

"I saw it as something wrong that it was my duty to correct," he said of illegal activities he and colleagues engaged in at UBS, which he says encouraged bankers to help wealthy clients hide their money. "I would do it again because it was the right thing to do."

Birkenfeld can only be released from prison under clemency from a U.S. president.  He is asking for clemency from President Obama on today, tax day, April 15th.

Odd isn't it that many regular Americans, not as wealthy, are hounded and jailed by the IRS to pay their back taxes all the while billionaires and multi-millionaires somehow get out of going to prison for the same.

Related
Brikenfeld's Attorney Speaks
Tax Day Freebies You Can Enjoy
Celebrity Tax Troubles
Tax Relief For The Middle Class
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