Noah Polizzotto4/15/14Political Science 105 KellyIn an everchanging world where industry and means of production have reached their biggest size since their inception, and with the global economy growing every year, there have been ways to solidify an elite place in society with things such as wealth and power through the invention of certain industries upon which civilization would grind to a halt if they were not as prevalent as they are today. With the ever increasing profit margins for these industries bringing in billions if not trillions of dollars a year, it is only human nature that the wealthy powerful elite will rise to the top of society not just through their genius indus ...view middle of the document...
For example, in 2008 actor Wesley Snipes was convicted on three misdemeanor counts of failing to file tax returns. Snipes is not the only person to fail to turn in tax returns or commit tax fraud in the celebrity community, and is one of the more popular examples of the amount of tax evasion that goes on in the US (Roscoff). Snipes only received a three year sentence, but even the government was unhappy with his sentence, "In the defendant Wesley Snipes; the court is presented with a wealthy, famous and inveterate tax scofflaw. If ever a tax offender was deserving of being held accountable to the maximum extent for his criminal wrongdoing - Snipes was the defendant." However, considering that Snipes was a celebrity and not a politician, are there any other examples of tax evasion done by the 'leaders' of our country? Former treasurer of the United States Catalina Vasquez Villalpando was charged with three felonies; tax evasion, making false statements about her finances, and obstruction of a grand jury after destroying documents sought by the court per her investigation. Her punishment? Four months of prison and three years probation, for three felonies (Ostrow). A former treasurer of the US should get a bigger sentence for this particular offense but considering she is a politician, it's obvious that she would get a lesser sentence. Let's compare her to a Colorado man who committed tax evasion in 2013, he was sentenced to 18 months in prison and three years of supervised release for only one count of tax evasion (Examples of ...).However, in the Nordic country of Iceland, four executive bankers were convicted of lending fraud to outside investors that caused the collapse of Iceland's banking industry, in essence, 'tanking' the flourishing expansionist economy Iceland had been banking on (excuse the pun) to gain a larger presence in the international community. Two of the banking executives received five and a half and five years in prison respectively for their crime against the Icelandic people (Former Icelandic Bosses…). Though the sentence may seem low for how much damage was caused, the real point here is that the bankers are actually going to prison for their crimes instead of being given a slap on the wrist and a miniscule fine as so many other white-collar criminals have received here in the US. The sentences handed down to these bankers shows a clear precedence when it comes to punishing those who do irreparable harm to society and is mainstay procedure in many social democracies. It this were true for other 'democracies' such as the US, we would see people like Villalpando made an example of.What Nordic countries do so well is provide for their citizens through various forms of welfare and egalitarian policy. The implementation of gender equality policies and the large amount of income distribution provides citizens with a more or less equal playing field when it comes to providing a well educated and consistent labor force,...
