We pay taxes for each other. This for example makes it possible that the government can offer help in the Covid-19 pandemic. But if taxpayers get the feeling that others, free riders, do not pay with impunity, that can have a negative effect on their own willingness to pay. Therefore, governments act firmly against tax fraudsters. Not just to punish, but also to deter. This is done in part through publicity on the Internet. Sigrid Hemels, Professor of Fiscal Law at Erasmus School of Economics, discusses this in an article of FD.
The Functional Public Prosecutor’s Office, the part of the Public Prosecution Service (OM) that fights complex fraud, therefore publishes news reports about criminal demands, punishment orders and transaction proposals imposed by the Public Prosecution Service. The Functional Public Prosecutor’s Office also does this to render public accountability.
A transaction is a kind of settlement. If a suspect accepts this, he can get a criminal record, but he does not have to appear in court. Publicity can be part of a transaction, also to compensate for not having a public hearing with publicity.
While the Public Prosecution Service refers to suspects in internet reports about criminal demands at most with initials, place of residence and age, press releases about punishment orders and transactions contain more details. In other cases, the name is not mentioned, but the data can be enough for the media to trace it back to a concrete person, no matter what. This publicity is not only punishing and deterring, but also a warning: do not engage with this person.
Sigrid Hemels, Professor of Fiscal Law at Erasmus School of Economics, discusses the consequences of the internet for the privacy and future of an individual in an article by Het Financieele Dagblad. The internet ‘does not forget’. The comparison with the pillory is easily made, but not straightforward. Being in a pillory was painful, but after that it was over. Publicity on the internet doesn’t pass. It is permanent. Hemels argues the question if we should want a permanent punishment like that as a society.
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