Cite as: 524 U. S. 321 (1998)
Kennedy, J., dissenting
double jeopardy, because the fine "serves to reimburse the Government for investigation and enforcement expenses." 409 U. S., at 237. The logic, however, applies with equal force here. Forfeiture of the money involved in the offense would compensate for the investigative and enforcement expenses of the Customs Service. There is no reason to treat the cases differently, just because a small duty was at stake in one and a disclosure form in the other. See Bollinger's Champagne, 3 Wall. 560, 564 (1866) (holding falsehoods on customs forms justify forfeiture even if the lies do not affect the duties due and paid). The majority, in short, is not even faithful to its own artificial category of remedial penalties.
B
The majority's novel holding creates another anomaly as well. The majority suggests in rem forfeitures of the instrumentalities of crimes are not fines at all. See ante, at 333-334, and nn. 8, 9. The point of the instrumentality theory is to distinguish goods having a "close enough relationship to the offense" from those incidentally related to it. Austin v. United States, 509 U. S. 602, 628 (1993) (Scalia, J., concurring in part and concurring in judgment). From this, the Court concludes the money in a cash-smuggling or nonre-porting offense cannot be an instrumentality, unlike, say, a car used to transport goods concealed from taxes. Ante, at 334, n. 9. There is little logic in this rationale. The car plays an important role in the offense but is not essential; one could also transport goods by jet or by foot. The link between the cash and the cash-smuggling offense is closer, as the offender must fail to report while smuggling more than $10,000. See 31 U. S. C. §§ 5316(a), 5322(a). The cash is not just incidentally related to the offense of cash smuggling. It is essential, whereas the car is not. Yet the car plays an important enough role to justify forfeiture, as the majority concedes. A fortiori, the cash does as well. Even if there were a clear distinction between instrumentalities
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