UK Doubles the Amount of Tax Evasion Cases

From the Financial Times:

The number of criminal prosecutions for tax evasion more than doubled last year, as the government stepped up its crackdown on individuals suspected of defrauding the Exchequer. 

Tax evasion prosecutions rose from 302 in 2011-12 to 617 in 2012-13, according to figures obtained by Pinsent Masons, an international law firm. The increase reflects the Treasury’s pledge in 2010 to quintuple the number of tax prosecutions in an effort to create a more robust deterrent against evasion.

Practically all tax systems are based on self-reporting -- meaning that each taxpayer reports his level of income to the appropriate governmental authority.  This of course encourages the non-reporting of income along with various practices which makes income untraceable.  

The threat of prosecution keeps most taxpayers this side of to the compliance line.  However, a dearth of prosecutions encourages taxpayers to play "audit roulette" -- not complying with the law in the hopes they won't get caught.  In a low prosecution environment, this is actually a well-reasoned strategy (although as an attorney I would advise against it). 

The US recently went through a period of heightened audits for high net worth individuals as well.  I would expect more of the same over the next few years.