Benjamin Franklin famously remarked that nothing in this world is certain but death and taxes.
But what would Franklin have said about the tax gap, the difference between the amount of tax due to the federal government and the amount taxpayers actually pay?
This year it’s likely to approach $300 billion, or nearly 15 percent of federal revenues. All told, as many as 30 to 40 percent of Americans won’t pay all of the taxes they owe in 2011.
What’s going on here? Why and how are so many people avoiding what Franklin thought was a certainty?...