I mean, you’ll get jail time for severe cases of tax evasion in Germany, too, but it’s a couple of years at max and most of the time it’s on probation.
How do you justify your draconic punishments in the US which is supposed to be a free country?
Not saying this is good or bad. Just saying it’s how it is. Joe Sixpack who fails to report some cash income will almost certainly never see a jail cell.
Using it only on "bad guys" is a recipe for the government punishing people that disagrees with them.
Indeed that's exactly how it is being used if it's true that they throw the book at public figures for making political statements like Wesley Snipes.
Jail is for people who actively dodge taxes, not someone who submitted their taxes a few days late.
There is no reasonable interpretation of selective enforcement.
Can we get a brit in here to see what their conception of the law is?
"Selecting policing" is just "discretion", that particular phrase is possibly US-centric but the concept itself isn't.
Or is the US the only place that really does that?
Focus on ‘unusual’. All the words in this document have a meaning.
Filing late because you made a mistake will cost you interest plus possibly a penalty relating to the amount. Tax evasion is a crime which can lead to jail time. The system will decide which one fits better based on your behavior, including how cooperative you are when they investigate it.
Just like if you hit someone in the head and they die. Maybe you will get charged with murder or maybe they will believe it is an accident. There's really no way to remove these human factors from the justice system.
"Under German law, the maximum term for one count of aggravated tax evasion is 10 years. If an accused is convicted of more than one count, the court can increase the maximum to 15 years."
The US is 5 years for each count, half of Germany's.
Macafee was under accused of multiple crimes, which added up to the headline figure of 30 years.
If he had been German it would have 60 years for those same multiple crimes.
- People imprisoned for violent crimes may stay there for their whole life if they pose an ongoing threat to public safety.
So... Germany DOES have a life sentence. Kinda misleading to state it doesn't.
However we also have "forvaring", or detention, which is locking someone up to protect the public.
If you're sentenced to "forvaring", you're not let go at the end. Instead a commission will review your case and behavior, and determine if the "forvaring" needs to be extended or not. So while you can't get more than 11 years (IIRC) at a time, the sentence can be extended indefinitely.
The important point is that "forvaring" isn't mean to be a punishment, although I assume it might certainly feel like it. It's meant to protect the public from a dangerous individual.
Nope. That's nonsense. Contrary to other countries, prison time isn't added on a per-conviction basis in Germany. There's maximum prison time per crime (in this case: 15 years) and that's that.
The USA is similar, sentences are often served concurrently meaning the headline numbers don’t get added up. Headlines reflect the absolute maximum penalties but there’s something called the Sentencing Guidelines that is used to set the actual length of the sentences and whether they are concurrent. https://www.ussc.gov/guidelines/introducing-guidelines-app
But which are, as the name suggests, “more what you’d call guidelines than actual rules.”
Still, a better measure of likely sentence than naively adding up statutory maxima for individual counts.
Perhaps, but prosecutors don’t unilaterally set sentences, and neither of those are either guidelines factors or things that you can cite to get a trial court to depart from (and an appeals court to uphold departure from) the guidelines.
Because that strikes me as more dysfunctional, where people are getting preferential treatment because they're part of the German footie machine.
That would be an example for someone punished lightly. If you and I did this it would be near maximum possible. Some people are more equal.
You and me would be smart enough to hire lawyers that can file a proper „Selbstanzeige“ according to §371 Abgabenordnung, which would prevent us from going to jail altogether ;-)
Plea bargains are horrendous and really should be banned or made extremely rare.
I'm not against that, mind you, I'm just saying that you are proposing a massive sea change in the legal system. Everything about the recommended sentencing to basic questions like "what incentives can we offer to flip on someone" would need to be completely rethought.
Which you can't even do for the last year+, since all the embassies are closed to renunciations indefinitely.
When the catch up to you, you are going away for a long time.
A common misconception. The United States takes the constitution seriously, but doesn’t even rank in the top 15 countries according to most freedom indexes.
https://www.popehat.com/2013/02/05/crime-whale-sushi-sentenc...
The tldr is that the maximum sentence of all the crimes added up has very little to do with what most people would actually face.
(take that as an abstract comment, I have no view or knowledge on McAfee and his personal tax affairs)
I'm in the US. It's purely Orwellian double speak.
Also note that there is a minimum amount of income that you always will be granted access to ('Pfändungsfreigrenze'), so a fine will not make you die from hunger nor make you homeless.
Not only did he die in prison, but he was banned from selling his books.
Germany max is 10 years BTW, at least google before you post bullshit.