Seems that some of my commenters think that using government for good would be hard to do. Going with the theory that every comment indicates some number of readers who believe the same, let’s explore this notion in further depth. This kind of doubt is more important than it seems, because it speaks to the weird, modern idea that governments are powerless to control how money is spent by individuals or corporations, when, in fact, it’s dead easy.
The tax system is also set up to catch stuff like this. No income declared from your property? Hmmm… do you have family members living there for free? Go inspect.
You can also supplement this with things like checking meters, checking mail delivery, and checking IR maps to see if the heat or air conditioning is on. (All this before we even get to the government’s real surveillance abilities). I guarantee the salaries of the people doing the inspections will be far exceeded by the fines and the money earned from auctions of seized properties.
This sort of thing is not only dirt easy, actually enforcing it is profitable for government, just as auditing corporations and rich people is VERY profitable. So every time your government reduces auditors your tax service you should ask why.
No, as usual, this is an easily solved problem that people refuse to solve either because of learned helplessness or because it is profitable for them (and politicians) for the problem to remain unsolved.
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