| Contrary to popular belief, it is not baseball but "tax avoidance" that is the national pastime. There are hardly any of us that are not constantly worried that we are paying more taxes than our neighbors (it is sort of the reverse psychology of “keeping up with the Jones”); and willing to go to extraordinary lengths, and engage in schemes and fictions, all the more to make ourselves ridiculous, in an effort to avoid paying our fair share. The game cannot be carried too far, however, for there is a critical difference between tax avoidance and “tax evasion” which is punishable as a felony. See 26 U.S.C. § 7201. |