Tackling Illegal Activities Through Tax Law – Al Capone Case Study

• Authors: Matej Kacaljak
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This paper discusses the Al Capone case and identifies legal institutions which contributed to the conviction of Al Capone for tax evasion in the USA and discusses similarities in Slovak law. The Slovak legal environment is assessed with the aim of identifying potential room for improvement. Under an assumption of identical factual circumstances, it is tested whether Al Capone would be convicted of tax evasion in the Slovak Republic and if not, what would be the main reasons. The paper concludes that due to some, probably unintentional, specifics of Slovak tax and criminal law, Al Capone could not be convicted of tax evasion by the Slovak courts. In our opinion, these specifics do not, however, constitute material elements of the basic structure of Slovak tax and criminal law and could be relatively easily corrected.

Keywords

EN

Personal Income Tax; Tax Evasion; Net Worth Method; Al Capone; Slovak Republic

• Publisher: Sciendo
• Journal: DANUBE: Law and Economics Review
• Year: 2015
• Volume: 6
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 47-56

Dates

published

2015-03-01

online

2015-04-10

Contributors

author

Matej Kacaljak

• Comenius University in Bratislava, Faculty of Law, Dpt. of Financial Law, Šafárikovo námestie 6, P.O. BOX 313, 810 00 Bratislava, Slovak Republic

References

• Andreoni, J., Erard, B., Feinstein, J. (1998). Tax Compliance. Journal of Economic Literature, 36(2), 818-860.
• Blackwell, C. (2009). AMeta-Analysis of Incentive Effects in Tax Compliance Experiments, forthcoming in: J. Alm, J. Martinez-Vazquez and B. Torgler (eds.), Developing Alternative Frameworks Explaining Tax Compliance, Routledge, London.
• Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic case IV. ÚS 3093/08.
• Gomes, M. (2015). Al Capone’s tax trial and downfall. Retrieved January 21, 2015, from http://www.myalcaponemuseum.com/id146.htm.
• IRS. (2015). IRS intelligence unit letter. Retrieved January 21, 2015, from http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/file-1-letter-dated-07081931-in-re-alphonse-capone.pdf.
• Knight, R. A., Knight, L. G. (1992). Criminal Tax Fraud: An Analytical Review. Mo. L. Rev. 57 (1992): 175.
• Linder, D. O. (2015). The Al Capone Trial: An Account. Retrieved January 21, 2015, from http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/capone/caponeaccount.html.
• Nový Cas. (2015). Neuveritelné! Ficove hodinky sú o 19 750 e drahšie ako Obamove! Retrieved January 21, 2015, from http://www.cas.sk/clanok/114994/neuveritelne-ficovehodinky-su-o-19-750-drahsie-ako-obamove.html.
• Plus 7 Dní. (2015). Dôchodca z Elektry: Z coho platí Meciar výdavky? Retrieved January 21, 2015, from http://www.pluska.sk/plus-7-dni/domov/07/dochodca-z-elektry-zcoho-plati-meciar-vydavky.html.
• Porazzo, D. M. (2015). The Al Capone Trial: A Chronology. Retrieved January 21, 2015, from http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/capone/caponechrono.html.
• Rumana, I., Hirková, M. (2013). Judikatúra vo veciach danového práva. Bratislava: IURA Edition, spol. s r.o..
• Schneider, F. (2014). In The Shadow of the State - The Informal Economy and Informal Economy Labor Force. In: DANUBE: Law and Economics Review, 5(4), 227-248.
• Slovak Constitutional Court Award No. PL. ÚS 5/2012. SME. (2015). Co vila spôsobila.Retrieved January 21, 2015, from http://www.sme.sk/c/800-60/co-vila-sposobila.html.
• Supreme Court of the Czech Republic case 8 Tdo 1452/2009.
• Supreme Court of the Czech Republic case 3 Tdo 1134/2011.
• Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic decision No. 3 Sžf 6/2007 (Blašková c/a Tax Directorate of the Slovak Republic).
• US Department of Justice (2015). Criminal Tax Manual. Retrieved January 21, 2015, from http://www.justice.gov/tax/readingroom/2001ctm/31ctax.htm.
• US Supreme Court case Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Wilcox (327 US 404).
• US Supreme Court case Garner v. United States (424 US 648).
• US Supreme Court case Helvering v. Clifford (309 US 331).
• US Supreme Court case Holland v. United States (348 US 121).
• US Supreme Court case James v. United States (348 US 121).
• US Supreme Court case Rutkin v. United States (343 US 130).
• US Supreme Court case Spies v. United States (317 US 492).
• US Supreme Court case United States v. Johnson (319 US 503).
• US Supreme Court case United States v. Sullivan (274 US 259).

Identifiers

DOI

10.1515/danb-2015-0003