This obsession with tax avoidance is not the mark of a morally enlightened society. It is the mark of a society that is refusing to face up to the real problems in its midst. There is no moral clarity to be gained from gawping at individuals’ tax returns, only moral scapegoating.
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Samizdata quote of the dayFebruary 16th, 2015 |
 18 comments to Samizdata quote of the day |
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Agreed.
Yes. The politics of envy and spite, and we know which party specialises in that, don’t we boys and girls? Except when they indulge in it too. Tony Benn paid no tax on his estate, neither did Ed when his Marxist dad died and their main donors, the unions, have evaded shedloads too. But the rest of us are supposed to get a receipt from the bloke who cuts our hedge for cash? Barking mad.
The other day I was shopping in a department store and chose 3 items of clothing to buy. On the way to the register I decided against buying one of the 3 items and so I put it back on the shelf. TAX AVOIDANCE!
Really, is there anyone at all in a civilized country who is not guilty of this?
Its just cover for the failure of the welfare state in the West. It’s to give credence to their bullshit statement that we have a tax collection problem, not a spending problem. Without every increasing monies to bribe voters, and the ability to ever load up the national debt how are the left going to win votes?
If governments don’t want tax avoidance they should write the rules accordingly. And they should stop offering bribes to people to set up businesses in specified industries and geographical areas. And stop offering bribes to foreigners to “invest” here.
As has been pointed out elsewhere, it would also be immoral for an accountant NOT to advise his clients on how to avoid tax. And why is it not “immoral” to advise people how to maximise their welfare benefits?
Here is the States, every once in a while I’ll see an article on the governments efforts to crack down on people with overseas accounts and income. The comments will almost always have a: “great do get them cheats” tenor to them.
Well, “show me the man, I will show you the crime”. These same people have probably misreported their taxes in any number of ways: buy something over the internet, and didn’t declare the purchase on your Local State tax return – whoops! you’re a tax cheat! get some bonus miles and other cash back on your credit card and didn’t realize it as income? It’s people like you who are the reason we can’t fund social programs! Sell an old TV or other item in the personals and didn’t report the income? Off to jail with you, there is no basis in items of personal use!
The government goes after groups that they can first; since 2009 that has been US citizens/residents with overseas accounts because there is no voting block to push back. Most US Citizens living overseas now find it hard to even get a bank to let them open an account. In my own personal experience, I had an overseas account for many years that had a small amount of money in it and a VERY low rate of interest. Over the course of several years, I had earned less than US $100 in interest (cumulatively!). Little did I know that not only was I in the wrong for owing the IRS about $20, but I faced fines of hundreds of thousands of dollars for not reporting the account to the IRS every year on an FBAR form. I entered a voluntary disclosure program and wound up paying THOUSANDS of dollars in fines.
For all of those people who are happy to see the stepped up powers of the tax authorities, they will eventually get around to you – and they will find something.
Josh, it’s criminals like you that keep America from reaching Paradise! The govmint comes up with these great 4-year re-election plans, but doesn’t have the money to carry them out!
Don’t you feel ashamed of yourself?
Widespread tax avoidance is symptomatic of excessively high tax rates which in turn is symptomatic of bad government.
Government will never admit that it does no matter how much income it has, it will always spend/waste more. Until this fact of life hits home, the West is doomed to decline.
I think y’all need to see this tax avoidance obsession from two different statist angles.
1. the attitude of the tax collector. Tax avoidance prevents the collection of revenue. It is therefore and necessarily a bad thing. Tax evasion prevents the collection of revenue. It is therefore and necessarily a bad thing. The two things are not distinguishable, except to the extent that – unaccountably – we are not allowed to punish people for the former, and sometimes we aren’t even allowed to collect the tax that is missing. Ergo, the solution is to change the law, and its enforcement procedures, so that we get an efficient tax collection system. Which is that you pay us what we demand, when we demand it, or you go to jail. When I was younger, and more naive, I heard the infamous “Dave” Hartnett, Gordon’s HMRC rottweiler, making a speech in which he said precisely this, in almost precisely these terms.
2. the attitude of politicians. Tax avoidance is not about morality or revenue, it is about votes. “Doing something” about tax avoidance* wins votes. Failing to do something about it loses votes. Railing against the immorality of it wins votes. Failing to rail loses votes. Morality has nothing to do with it.
* By tax avoidance I mean tax avoidance by rich people. Who should pay their fair share. What is their fair share ? More. Who is rich ? Anyone richer than me.
Tax avoidance by folk like me – booze runs to Calais, cash payments to builders, the lure of the green channel in the airport, this is not tax avoidance.
The debt was caused by government overspend, they just want to pass it off as the “tax gap” created by avoiders and evaders.
I note Black has understated the problem; at the start of the ’90s Tolleys Tax Guide was shy of 2000 pages; its now as near as dammit 18,000
It’s worse than that. It’s the symptom of a broken society, where people aren’t pulling their own weight but it’s no longer seen as shameful.
Tax avoidance – Legal.
Tax evasion – Illegal.
It is the greedy and power hungry that confuse evasion with avoidance. They have been conditioned to believe that all monies are theirs to do with as they please. They believe that those of us who wish to have some say in how we spend or save our earnings are greedy for disagreeing. The conflict between avoidance and evasion is as old as civilization.
How’s that true, Eric? Someone who owes taxes to evade in the first place is obviously pulling his own weight. What he’s not pulling is the weight of others.
Was Eric referring to the tax eaters? (And that’s the real obesity issue).
A tax code of 18,000 pages means everyone is guilty of something. So now the State can choose who to prosecute on an arbitrary, political basis. Chuck in 400 year sentences and plea-bargaining and you have ideal conditions for seriously unscrupulous people to run amok.
I’m glad Mr. Ed made that post, because on first reading I had completely misunderstood Eric’s comment. I read it as being critical of tax avoiders, not tax sponges, which on re-reading is diametrically opposite to what he intended (I think).