IRS: Stealing Is Okay If You Pay Taxes

Most funny memes are jokes or exaggerations, but one currently making the rounds on social media would typically fall into the category of an obvious fake – except that it is true. In it, the IRS all but presents itself as a partner in crime.
Stolen Property
Publication 17 (2021) at the IRS website is a list of reminders and requirements for the individual tax code. One of them stands out like a sore thumb:
“Stolen property.
“If you steal property, you must report its fair market value in your income in the year you steal it unless you return it to its rightful owner in the same year.”
No, this is not made up. The Tax Code apparently endorses theft if you share the loot with the federal government. It seems the U.S. government is presenting itself as a co-conspirator in crime.

Al Capone (Photo by Daily Herald Archive/National Science & Media Museum/SSPL via Getty Images)
Al Capone
However, despite the defunding of the police and many George Soros-funded district attorneys’ refusal to prosecute criminals, stealing is still illegal in the United States, at least in theory. The IRS is not endorsing theft but rather continuing a tradition used on one of the most notorious mobsters in American history, Al Capone. He bribed public officials, ordered hit jobs, and committed other mob-related crimes. However, he was eventually prosecuted and jailed for tax evasion.

Since that time, it has proved easier to capture criminals for tax evasion than for theft. Laws have b…

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