Rare, but not super rare. You are misremembering the large amount of pamphlets, direct mail and newspaper/magazine ads that fed a propensity for stupid people to try and get rich or circumvent rules. There were no doubt regional differences, but e.g. in the Netherlands there were a few people with large tax trick companies/movements that gained a lot of traction and money before they eventually got stopped by the courts. Talking late 70s/80s. here.
Rare, but not super rare. You are misremembering the large amount of pamphlets, direct mail and newspaper/magazine ads that fed a propensity for stupid people to try and get rich or circumvent rules. There were no doubt regional differences, but e.g. in the Netherlands there were a few people with large tax trick companies/movements that gained a lot of traction and money before they eventually got stopped by the courts. Talking late 70s/80s. here.