Internal Revenue Service guidelines explicitly require US taxpayers to declare income generated from bribes, theft, and illegal drug sales on their annual tax returns.

A closer look

Internal Revenue Service guidelines explicitly require US taxpayers to declare income generated from bribes, theft, and illegal drug sales on their annual tax returns. According to IRS Publication 17, if you steal property, you must report its fair market value unless you return it to its rightful owner in the same year. This means the federal government doesn't actually care if you're running a massive underground smuggling ring or embezzling millions from your corporate employer, so long as Uncle Sam gets his twenty-four percent cut of the felony. It is wonderfully cynical that the absolute pinnacle of American economic policy is the realization that morality is completely subjective, but tax evasion is the one unforgivable sin that will get a mob boss thrown into federal prison faster than multiple homicides