IRS criminal referrals against big corporations and ultrawealthy plummeted during Trump’s first year

Dodging taxes got less risky for the ultrarich and corporations after Donald Trump returned to the White House last year.

During the new administration’s first year

, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service has referred at most two cases of possible tax evasion by ultrawealthy people or large businesses to its criminal investigators, a sharp drop from previous years, according to new data obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

The steep decline underscores...