Week in Insights: The History of Tax Fraud Goes Back Millennia

When it comes to tax evasion, some things never change. Case in point: A recently translated papyrus from the Judean Desert has revealed that two enterprising Romans—Gadalias and Saulos—allegedly were running a proto-tax shelter in about A.D. 130.

If the prosecutor’s notes are accurate, the pair was either falsifying sales to claim tax credits they weren’t owed, or they were forging documents to show they needed to pay lower taxes than their wealth required. Such tactics form the basis of tax frauds to this day, from creative ledger manipulation to the use of offshore tax havens.

An informant reported the ...