Let’s talk about money: A tax investigator unpacks from practice – economy

Birgit Orths has been fighting clan crime and tax fraud for 20 years. A conversation about political resistance, Ferrari drivers on Königsallee and the question of why she had to buy her balaclava herself.

Birgit Orths has been a tax investigator for 20 years, she has investigated clan crime, sales tax fraud and corona fraud. Although she brings in many millions of stolen tax money from the state, she believes that the tax investigation department is chronically understaffed. At some point Orths couldn’t stand it any longer and wrote a book to get rid of her frustration about the general conditions of her work. In it, she describes how she and her colleagues successfully investigated criminal gangs despite being hopelessly overwhelmed. But it is also the case that not all colleagues applauded, which probably applies in particular to representatives of the management levels. Orths, 57, took a vacation for the interview. We meet in the lobby of a hotel in Düsseldorf.