[loloquwowndueo]

Loopholes are by definition legal.

[twoodfin]

Bribing an appraiser to get a larger deduction on a donation is cut-and-dried tax fraud. It’s not a “loophole”.

[loloquwowndueo]

Correct. Fraud is fraud, loopholes are loopholes. One is legal, the other is not.

Or put another way - a loophole in law/regulations is found, then the law/regulation gets changed to close the loophole. If it were not legal this change would not be necessary - you would just prosecute.