system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How do corrupt politicians explain their earnings to the IRS?

If bribery is illegal, how do they get away with this?
gpt
Suitcase-full-of-money bribery is practically unheard of in the United States, at least at the highest levels, for exactly the reason you'd suppose: unexplained money is awfully suspicious. So someone who wants to use their money to influence a congressman has to be subtle. Maybe his company will, (just coincidentally, you understand) have a job that the congressman's good-for-nothing brother somehow  got picked for. Or maybe the congressman's law firm will get a lot of high-paying clients all of a sudden.