NCJ Number
94222
Date Published
1984
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This discussion of economic crime in Sweden considers the definition of economic crime, forms of economic crime, the injurious effects of economic crime in general and tax evasion in particular, the extent and trend of tax evasion and the amount of tax losses, and measures to counter economic crime.
Abstract
Swedish criminal justice officials define economic crime as 'punishable acts which continuously and systematically are committed for purpose of gain within the framework of a legal trade constituting the actual basis for the acts.' In the Swedish debate, economic crime also denotes tax fraud and other means to defraud the government. The victims of economic crime are business owners, creditors, employees, the public, customers, competitors, and the state, as well as society as a whole. Tax evasion has the injurious effect of placing an added burden of public support on law-abiding taxpayers while reducing the public benefits that would otherwise be available to citizens to improve the quality of their lives. Tax losses due to evasion in Sweden are believed to be derived from the nonreporting of 5 percent of taxable income. The proportion of the market economy avoiding taxation in Sweden (the 'black sector') appears to remain constant at 3.8-5.5 percent of the gross domestic product. While there is no universal remedy against economic crime, the Swedish experience has been that every type of economic crime can be forestalled through measures designed to counter that particular type. The appendixes contain a listing of Swedish legislation against organized and economic crime; reports, memoranda, and communications of Sweden's commission established to deal with economic crime; and eight bibliographic listings.