The deadline for filing federal income taxes is still six weeks away, but it's worth focusing national attention on taxes, tax collection and tax cheats.

Two of President Barack Obama's cabinet nominees were revealed to have tax "issues," meaning, in these cases, failure to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxes. One withdrew his nomination, the other was confirmed as Secretary of the Treasury, the agency that overseas the Internal Revenue Service.

Last week, news reports revealed that UBS, the giant Swiss bank, has agreed to open up secret bank accounts as part of an agreement with U.S. officials who charged the bank with conspiring to evade U.S. taxes and defrauding the IRS. UBS has admitted its role in the tax- avoidance schemes and is paying $780 million while also revealing details of thousands of bank accounts held by wealthy Americans, many of whom allegedly have been using those accounts to evade taxes in the U.S.

It's been estimated that from 2002 to 2007, UBS helped wealthy Americans hide $20 billion, thereby cheating the IRSout of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Aggressive pursuit of tax-avoidance schemes and tax cheats themselves is appropriate for both moral and financial reasons. Someone who cheats on taxes and doesn't pay his or her fair share is breaking the law and should be punished. Beyond the moral rationale for a crackdown on tax cheats, every dollar not paid to the U.S. Treasury by a tax cheat raises taxes for other, honest taxpayers.

As the economic crisis evolves and federal spending expands, it is clear that the IRS should be collecting every tax dollar owed, before anyone talks about increasing taxes.

The most recent IRS estimates, which are for 2001, estimate the "tax gap," meaning the difference between what is owed and what is collected, at $345 billion a year.

The pending UBS exposure of tax cheats using secret Swiss bank accounts is a step in the right direction. Closing down tax havens in the Caribbean and elsewhere also is worth pursuing. An IRSproposal to pay snitches who report tax cheats is another worthwhile idea under consideration.

And in the corporate world, multinational corporations play games with an accounting entry called transfer payments between their U.S. and foreign operations. The transfer pricing gimmick reportedly costs the U.S. Treasury more than $50 billion a year.

During his televised speech Tuesday evening, Obama said that tax rates on the wealthy would be increased. But before raising taxes for any American, Obama should ensure that every tax dollar owed will be collected, and that tax cheats will be caught and prosecuted.

Bashing bankers and their million-dollar bonuses is popular (and justified), and Obama got a standing ovation when he did it Tuesday night. But he needs to show the American public, and the majority of taxpayers who are playing by the rules, that the multimillionaires on Wall Street are not only getting a tongue lashing, but also are paying their fair share of taxes.

One plan sure to be supported by the public would involve intense IRSaudits of all top executives from all companies getting bailout money.

Other changes that would be welcome include a simplified tax code, and possibly a national sales tax to capture people in the underground economy and also those who fail to file or underreport income.

The astonishing amount of money being spent — and borrowed — to bail out banks, automakers and big insurance companies would be less daunting if the tax gap were closed and the IRS were collecting an extra $400 billion or so a year.

Not enough attention has been paid to the issue of tax cheats. It is unacceptable that so many wealthy Americans are not paying their fair share, and shifting the burden to honest taxpayers. Obama should focus some of his energy on closing the tax gap, before he talks about raising taxes.