Citizens on sophistry watch will have their own lists of suspected sophistry. Here is a case from Australia's High Court in which the cost to pay-as-you-earn taxpayers has been quantified...
In Curran v Federal Commissioner of Taxation (1974), Chief Justice Sir Garfield Barwick and Justices Sir Harry Gibbs and Sir Doug Menzies effectively found a form of words which said a profit of $2,782 was actually a loss of $186,046. Tax lawyers did nicely; self-employed persons rushed into "Curran" schemes.
That sophistry has been estimated to have cost the Treasury at least AU$5 billion at today's rates. PAYE taxpayers had to make up the difference.
.(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).