I'm not talking about mass kidnappings, or a modern Pied Piper, or alien abductions... but administrative or economic "disappearances."
In the US, April 15 is the deadline to file the federal income tax return. In order to receive exemptions for children (for example, in 2008 this amount was $3,500) you could not exceed a certain income level and include the names of the children on the return.
In 1987, theIRS (Internal Revenue Service ), the equivalent of our Tax Treasury, changed the rules of the game and modified the conditions to be able to receive exemptions for children:
The Social Security number of the children had to be included, it was no longer enough to include only the name.
Remember that the American Social Security number is very different from ours. This number is assigned at birth and is made up of nine digits:the first three indicate the place of birth, the next two indicate the most specific location within your area, and the last four are serial numbers (assigned between 0001 and 9999). ).
This change meant that at midnight on April 15, 1987, seven million children "disappeared" from the declarations. This shows that treasury fraud is a widespread practice in all corners.
Source:Freakonomics – Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner