Tax avoidance is harming us all.

[Staunton]

Would I pay tax if I could avoid doing so?

 

Most certainly I would pay my tax, and do so happily. It is the basis of a civilised community. The happiest countries on earth such as those in Scandinavia are also the highest tax payers, and there is a strong sense of obligation in those communities to play their part.

 

All are happier in a fair society, even the richest benefit from high levels of equality (See Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson, The Spitit Level, published by Penguin Books).

 

I hope that an ambulance shall be dispatched if I call 999, that the fire service will send an appliance if my house is on fire, or that Social Services shall help my family or my neighbours if they are in need. And so I gladly pay my tax.

 

However, I am very distressed to witness that these services are all being cut by a government that champions free market ideology and actively assists the tax avoidance tactics of the multinationals, whilst passing on the costs of this outrage to us ordinary folk, regardless of the impact on our families and our communities.

 

Unless we oppose this neoliberal ideology there will be a continued dismantling of the services that we all rely upon, whilst big business continues to drive down wages, outsource and robosource jobs and simultaneously gorges on bloated profits.

[truman]

Would I pay tax if I could avoid doing so?

 

Most certainly I would pay my tax, and do so happily. It is the basis of a civilised community. The happiest countries on earth such as those in Scandinavia are also the highest tax payers, and there is a strong sense of obligation in those communities to play their part.

 

All are happier in a fair society, even the richest benefit from high levels of equality (See Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson, The Spitit Level, published by Penguin Books).

 

I hope that an ambulance shall be dispatched if I call 999, that the fire service will send an appliance if my house is on fire, or that Social Services shall help my family or my neighbours if they are in need. And so I gladly pay my tax.

 

However, I am very distressed to witness that these services are all being cut by a government that champions free market ideology and actively assists the tax avoidance tactics of the multinationals, whilst passing on the costs of this outrage to us ordinary folk, regardless of the impact on our families and our communities.

 

Unless we oppose this neoliberal ideology there will be a continued dismantling of the services that we all rely upon, whilst big business continues to drive down wages, outsource and robosource jobs and simultaneously gorges on bloated profits.

 

I think the question is would you pay more than you are legally obliged to ?

 

---------- Post added 12-02-2013 at 10:50 ----------

 

There is no reason why a company should not pay all its due tax and still employ hundreds of thousands of people.

 

The two are not mutually exclusive.

 

Are you talking legal tax due or "moral" tax..?If profits per employee were reduced do you think companies would employ the same number of people? Genuine question..

Edited February 12, 2013 by truman

[Staunton]

Global corporations and international financial companies are not guileless innocents, conscientiously observing the revenue structures of the states in which they operate. They are giant money making machines, careless of the effect of their operations within the regions they exploit, externalising the impact of their processes in the form of pollution, exploitation of resources and labour, hostile to the very notion of tax, fixed on the process of rewarding their executives and shareholders, and extending their power and influence.

 

These corporations use their power and wealth to bully, persuade and advise governments across the world into privatising, deregulating, and reducing tax. They use sophisticated techniques to avoid their responsibilities and to enhance their bottom line. They have established and continue to use a vast network of offshore mechanisms to get around paying the tax that they owe. This harms us all!

 

Until we ordinary people begin to appreciate what the corporate players are up to, we shall continue to be confused, dismayed and impoverished by the fiendish exertions of the multimillionaire set as they increase their already astonishing levels of wealth and power, whilst the rest of us, here in Sheffield, and even more so in places such as Gdansk, Kinshasa, Detroit or Bucharest – the list is endless - see our environment, our communities, our resources, our services, our livelihoods and our health mercilessly eroded and trashed.

 

Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne are not valliant public servants, struggling to heal an ailing economy, they are determined free market operators, sworn to assist their corporate friends, implementing policies friendly to big business and wealthy individuals and heaping the costs of their neoliberal project on ordinary people.

 

Big businesses are not benevolent organisations, looking to provide jobs and income to ordinary people, they are there to do one thing – maximise profit. That is why they move operations to the global south – to exploit cheap labour; that is why they seek to utilise technological advances to replace workers – for example, supermarkets are today increasing their auto checkouts across Britain and reducing their till staff levels; that is why they are forcing local councils and health authorities in the UK to revise down their terms and conditions of employment prior to privatisation.

 

We pay the price for high profits, and we all lose when the corporations and their political friends privatise, deregulate and avoid paying tax.

[DaFoot]

I think the question is would you pay more than you are legally obliged to ?

 

If you are referring to my question, yes that is exactly what I meant.

For all te bleating about (entirely legal) tax avoidance from people I suspect most of those people would take the opportunity should it arise.

 

Whether that be a little undeclared income on the side, making sure all mileage is set off against taxes etc etc

[truman]

If you are referring to my question, yes that is exactly what I meant.

 

I thought so..Staunton seemed to reword it..

[DaFoot]

I thought so..Staunton seemed to reword it..

 

A lot of folks seem to associate "tax avoidance" with wilful refusal to pay any tax.

[Eater Sundae]

If I buy a car with a low CO2 emission, I avoid paying the higher duty (ie tax) associated with a car having higher emissions.

 

If I save money via an ISA instead of in a normal interest account at the bank, I avoid paying tax on the interest.

 

These are both legal. Are they immoral? If not, why are other legal methods of tax avoidance seen as being immoral? How is it possible to differentiate between the moral ones and the immoral ones?

Edited February 12, 2013 by Eater Sundae
reworded

[Marx]

Global corporations and international financial companies are not guileless innocents, conscientiously observing the revenue structures of the states in which they operate. They are giant money making machines, careless of the effect of their operations within the regions they exploit, externalising the impact of their processes in the form of pollution, exploitation of resources and labour, hostile to the very notion of tax, fixed on the process of rewarding their executives and shareholders, and extending their power and influence.

 

And people in poorer countries pay with their lives. Look what happened when unions tried to challenge Coca Cola in Colombia. Free market thuggery.

[mikem8634]

A genuine question to those of you saying how bad tax avoidance is - if you had the chance to LEGALLY reduce the amount of tax you were paying, would you take it or continue paying full whack out of some sense of social duty?

 

As I stated on the Starbucks and Amazon threads I have no objection to paying my full, fair share of tax and I would continue to pay the full whack if I considered the available, legal avoidance to be immoral.

 

Would I pay tax if I could avoid doing so?

 

Most certainly I would pay my tax, and do so happily. It is the basis of a civilised community. The happiest countries on earth such as those in Scandinavia are also the highest tax payers, and there is a strong sense of obligation in those communities to play their part.

 

All are happier in a fair society, even the richest benefit from high levels of equality (See Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson, The Spitit Level, published by Penguin Books).

 

I hope that an ambulance shall be dispatched if I call 999, that the fire service will send an appliance if my house is on fire, or that Social Services shall help my family or my neighbours if they are in need. And so I gladly pay my tax.

 

However, I am very distressed to witness that these services are all being cut by a government that champions free market ideology and actively assists the tax avoidance tactics of the multinationals, whilst passing on the costs of this outrage to us ordinary folk, regardless of the impact on our families and our communities.

 

Unless we oppose this neoliberal ideology there will be a continued dismantling of the services that we all rely upon, whilst big business continues to drive down wages, outsource and robosource jobs and simultaneously gorges on bloated profits.

 

Well said. Agreed.

 

If you are referring to my question, yes that is exactly what I meant.

For all te bleating about (entirely legal) tax avoidance from people I suspect most of those people would take the opportunity should it arise.

 

Whether that be a little undeclared income on the side, making sure all mileage is set off against taxes etc etc

 

Nope.

[truman]

As I stated on the Starbucks and Amazon threads I have no objection to paying my full, fair share of tax and I would continue to pay the full whack if I considered the available, legal avoidance to be immoral.

 

 

 

Well said. Agreed.

 

 

 

Nope.

 

So do you pay more than your legal obligation?