War on wealth Tax Evasion plan
When the U.S. adapts and implements a strategy like this to go after wealthy tax cheats, the effects would ripple across economics, politics, public trust, and even the global financial system. A realistic assessment of likely effects both positive and challenging. If done well with transparency, legal precision, international coordination, and firm public backing this strategy could:
Recover hundreds of billions in stolen wealth, level the playing field for honest taxpayers, and shift the culture of impunity that has benefited the ultra-wealthy for decades to come.
Wealthy donors, lobbyists, and think tanks will declare war on the effort. This could become a partisan wedge, with opposition claiming "the government is coming after success." This plan would require your strong public commitment to keep support.
Tax havens will invent new secrecy structures. Some wealth will shift into untraceable assets (crypto, art, land in non-cooperative countries). We must make constant innovation to stay ahead.
If not done carefully, perceived abuse or mistakes could erode trust. We must avoid becoming a political witch hunt or overreach that hits innocent small businesses. Multinationals will threaten to leave the U.S., reduce domestic investment, or offshore jobs further, showing why we don’t need them. This can be mitigated through global cooperation and minimum tax agreements (like the OECD’s 15% deal).
Adapting the Biden administration’s anti-oligarch asset seizure strategy to target wealthy individuals or corporations evading U.S. taxes or offshoring assets would require a similarly aggressive, multi-agency approach—but tailored for domestic and global tax enforcement rather than geopolitical sanctions.
Establish a “Task Force Tax warfare” Whose purpose it is to target ultra-wealthy tax cheats, corporations exploiting loopholes, and offshore havens. Led by the departments of DOJ, IRS Criminal Investigation Division (CI), FinCEN, Treasury, SEC. Their primary focus will be tax evasion, fraudulent shell companies, offshore trusts, and accounting manipulation. They will be tasked with investigating complex financial networks. Use subpoenas and international information-sharing treaties (e.g., FATCA, CRS). Their primary target: facilitators (lawyers, bankers, accountants).
International Cooperation: “REPO for Tax Havens” Whose goal it is to share data on offshore accounts, enforce transparency laws, pressure jurisdictions like the Cayman Islands, Panama, etc. We can use some of our existing tools or invent new ones to accomplish our goals. FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act), automatic exchange of bank info via CRS (Common Reporting Standard), diplomatic pressure/sanctions on non-cooperative countries are a few tools we can implement today. Using our alliance with U.S. partners with EU, G7, OECD, and others to crack down on tax shelters.
Legal Toolkit: Expand Civil & Criminal Forfeiture DOJ seizures of the wealthy assets Allow civil asset forfeiture of properties tied to tax evasion or fraudulent shelters. Prosecute for conspiracy to defraud the IRS, money laundering, bank fraud, false filings. Push for new legislation to close loopholes (e.g., carried interest, fake "non-dom" statuses).
Forensic Audit Squads Deploy elite IRS & DOJ-financed audit squads to high-risk financial actors. Use AI/data mining to detect the wealthy’s suspicious filings. Flag wealth movement through shell companies, and partner with whistleblowers and incentivize tips (like the IRS Whistleblower Program).
Publicly Track & Report Recoveries Create a public registry showing seized/fined assets and funds recovered for taxpayers. Highlight major wins for the American people:
"$200 million estate seized from tax-evading hedge fund CEO"
"$50 million offshore trust brought back into U.S. tax system"
Redirect Funds to the Public Use recovered funds to support IRS modernization, reduce public debt or fund middle-class tax cuts. Invest in underfunded services like education or healthcare.
Legislative Backbone Push for laws to ban anonymous shell companies (beneficial ownership transparency), enforce a global minimum tax (building on the OECD deal), expand IRS authority and budget (reversing historic underfunding), criminalize certain types of tax haven abuse.
