90% fraudulent activity

You have got to be kidding me.

In a statement released last week, the Europol police agency said Europe's cap-and-trade system has been the victim of organized crime during the past 18 months, resulting in losses of roughly $7.4 billion. The agency, headquartered in the Netherlands, estimated that in some countries up to 90 percent of the entire market volume was caused by fraudulent activities. ... In a statement released last week, the Europol police agency said Europe's cap-and-trade system has been the victim of organized crime during the past 18 months, resulting in losses of roughly $7.4 billion. The agency, headquartered in the Netherlands, estimated that in some countries up to 90 percent of the entire market volume was caused by fraudulent activities. ... It's a lesson to be learned, critics of cap-and-trade say. Creating such a system in the United States would invite "corruption, illegality and criminal activity," much as it has in Europe, said Max Schulz, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. "This is the problem with politicians trying to create a market for something that the free market otherwise doesn't value," Schulz said. "An emissions trading market is an artificially, politically-created market.... "If we pass a system like Europe has, we're going to get all the problems Europe has experienced," he said. "You're asking for a lot of problems." ... Diana Furchtgott-Roth, the former chief economist for the U.S. Department of Labor and now a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, said she was concerned with political favoritism as much as outright fraud if a cap-and-trade system is implemented. "Depending on how many emission allowances you have to purchase and how many emission allowances you are given, you can be a winner or a loser," she said. "It'll be an opportunity for corruption, not by tax avoidance but by political corruption, both on the state level and the national level." Fox News

This is one of the oldest games in the book. Charge people a tax and then never pay the tax. it happens every day at convenience stores. It happened to a friend of mine on her payroll taxes many years ago.

The really depressing part of all this is that the IRS or other tax agency usually goes after the people who have already paid their taxes and not the bad guys who knew enough to cover their tracks. I mean, honest people are the easiest to convict.