Tax cheats nabbed using Google Street View

Authorities using interesting tactic to track down system cheaters

Tax officials in Lithuania announced that they were able to track down a little more than 100 suspected tax cheats by looking at their property using Google’s Street View. 

Google Street View car 
A Google Street View car sits outside St. Anne’s Church in Vinius, Lithuania on June 7, 2012.

The mapping service was launched in the Baltic state in January after authorities overcame their initial reluctance concerning the program; specifically, questions they had regarding security and privacy concerns.

Tax service spokesman Darius Buta told AFP that they used the popular online application to confirm real estate information on tax declarations. The department will now probe the 100-or-so individuals whose building appeared to be worth more than the declared value to see if they sought to evade taxes.

Story via: google.com

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