California Asks Its Citizens to Report Crimes- Including Tax Evasion

California and various federal government agencies have combined to create a task force, through a a website called the Tax Recovery And Criminal Enforcement Tax Force  ( TRACE) that targets the underground economy of California and allows Californians to report a crime either by telephone, online or by mail.

The task force has as partners the Department of Alcohol Beverage Control, the Board of Equalization, the Department of Justice, the Employment Development Department, the FBI, the Franchise Tax Board, and Homeland Security.

 The website encourages the reporting of various crimes including income tax fraud and describes how to report tax fraud either by fax, telephone, online, or by mail.

 The website states that already it has resulted in the arrest of several people including a 40-year-old man who was accused of copying DVDs and selling them at flea markets and a 66-year-old man accused of underreporting sales of tobacco products. Additionally it reports the arrest of a pair of sisters accused of running a brothel.

 
Accompanying the website is a form that could be completed in paper form or online describing the suspect information, the complaint, the offense and the dates, and the various categories of crime which includes sales and use tax, income tax, tobacco tax etc. The crime report can be done anonymously.