Bitcoin Forum

It's just a hypothetical question and says nothing about me. I decided to open thread with this question for a lot of reasons which I'll explain down below.

If you think about inflation, taxes and your salary at the same time, you'll understand how the government eats you alive. Let's start with the fact that იf you live in Europe and have a normal salary, you have to leave almost half of it in taxes. Then, when you want to go for shopping and buy something in store, including food, clothes, technics, etc, you have pay your taxes of those items with already taxed money. Then, the store owner has to pay taxes of the income his store generated. Distributors, who deliver things to these stores, have to pay taxes too. Then there are vehicle taxes, property taxes. So, absolutely everything is taxed and on top of that, our salary is taxed and even on top of that, we experience inflation. This is not fair!

So, my legitimate question is, after all the robbery, a person, who doesn't pay taxes, is a bad person for the society or not? More likely I want to get answer from those whose countries have a model similar of European healthcare and employment insurance.

First of all you need to know what you are trying or committing is evading tax not avoiding so in that case evading is legally crime and you will face legal consequences.

Avoiding tax is something you can do to reduce the tax amount but not breaking any laws of your country which is only possible if you're doing a business not possible when you are a salaried person.

It must be a dilemma for all since we have been taxed over and over. I feel the same way too but because I'm an employee and my employer already is deducting those taxes from my pay, there is nothing else to do.


In the eyes of the government, everybody has to contribute. Kind of unfair sometimes with the redundant taxes but that's our duty to our government as we do benefit thru the health cards and infrastructures they built for us to use.

If no one is paying tax, that could affect the economy. Tax is important. You do not have to evade tax, pay your tax.

It is not robbery if your government depend on the taxes and your government depend on it for the economy to function appropriately. If the tax is collected from only you or from few and not everyone, that is robbery, but you all are paying the tax.

Exactly right.
In my country, taxes are deducted from the salaries of employees automatically, meaning that government employees receive their salaries in full after deducting all taxes from them, and employees in the private sector as well because their employer is the one who pays for them that tax after deducting it from their salaries. In general, it is impossible to manipulate taxes, whether by reducing them or eliminating them in any way.
On the other hand, business owners allocate part of their budget to assign accountants specialized in tax laws to make it easier for them to reduce the percentage of taxes that they must pay. They all admit that without carrying out the manipulation process, the profit becomes unsecured and they cannot continue their business, especially since the state does not bear the burdens of the budget with them during periods of decline in their work activity, and in many sectors it deducts a fixed tax, especially for craftsmen and small companies.
I live in a country where taxes represent more than 85% of its budget revenues, even though the parallel market accounts for more than 50% of the market economy. In the parallel market, all goods are smuggled from neighboring countries, and all activities are undeclared and therefore not subject to tax. Unfortunately, the state is unable to contain this sector in order to preserve civil peace.

I think ops have a valid point,  even though the government need tax to fund capital expenses,  this is a clear indication of over-taxation because, from the ops point of view,  there is no justification to pay income tax as a salary earner because, at the back door, you still pay value added tax on your expenses and necessities.

The government have indeed robbed the citizens in multiple ways,  just as we have tax invaders as citizens the same way we have tax robbers from the government and its agents who impose multiple taxes on citizens.

Who determines how much taxes you pay? It's the government. And who elected the government? Its you and your fellow citizens. Government gets the reputation of being an ominous authority detached from the interests of their constituency where people seemingly forget it was they themselves who elected that body in the first place. Yes, it's immoral to not pay the taxes you're entitled to pay. If you don't like the tax rate, the answer isn't to avoid paying taxes, it's to petition your government for a lower tax rate.

Definitely not, even though some people would say the contrary. As a business owner (in Europe as well), I totally agree on the points you make - taxes are mostly low key robbery. I know that everyone should pay as that's how the system functions and we couldn't live without it as we do, but most of it is really stealing hard earned money.

I wouldn't suggest illegal tax evasion, you should rather do it smart and stay in legal circle. If you research enough, you will see how many options you have on being eligible to write some taxes off.
Of course I wont pay for something I don't have to if I find a loophole or trick to avoid giving out money while avoiding being in trouble with the authorities.

You don't have to limit your thread to just people having same kind of model to what you are talking about tax, you need a wider range of response and information for you to know more about the topic.

First, I like to say that if a country is taxing you but providing the basic amenities needed for good standard of living then I don't see a problem in that since they also account for the capital expenditures and all that has to do with proper running of the government. So apart from natural resources that are converted in manufactured goods to be exported, the government look inward also to generate income used to run the government. Tax are IGR for the government but they have to be moderate because over taxing is more like slavery.

So to your question about being a bad person if you avoid paying your tax, there is a line between morality and law. So morality brings your conscience in the mood for you to know good or bad while law is inscriptions charged with offenses and punishment. Therefore If you evade tax, legally it is a crime if you are caught. If you are caught is the word but with morality, your conscience gives you the instant judgement.

In certain terms you are screwing over your fellow citizens by not paying your fair share of taxes, but at the other end of the spectrum we have gigantic multinationals who jump through all sorts of sophisticated financial gymnastics and manage to pay a pittance on their profits. My personal view is that governments should be spending more time on chasing and closing down loopholes that are being abused in this way, as it would be a lot more cost effective in helping to raise missing tax revenues. Just as an example, Warren Buffett even expressed his annoyance with financial tricks enabling one of the richest men in the world to pay the same amount of tax as his receptionist.

I totally understand your concerns here, and i also sometime give thoughts to same query but you specifically mentioned Europe and I live in middle east so I think we both are living different level of life style because there comes two types of poverty and taxes (I know taxes have more than 2 types but let's talk about only two here). Two types of properties are Absolute and Relative one.

And in my POV, European citizens are facing relative poverty and they find it difficult hard to pay taxes but they have left with no other choice and then there comes the role of tax types because takes are progressive and regressive tax. And in Europe countries progressive taxes save most of the people from high taxes. But we live in middle east where taxes are regressive and level of poverty is absolute which means it is way harder for us to pay taxes than the one I mentioned above and now coming to main query.

Long answer short: I do not see the ones in middle east as thief if they avoid to lay tax (which is nearly impossible for them) but if they somehow find a way then it is loophole in the system from which they are getting benefit and I find no wrong in it because governments are doing corruption while poor have to pay high tax same as rich pays and their is not relieve for poor then in that conditions to face the situation poor if find a way to bypass taxation then I find it ok there is nothing wrong in it.

Tax evasion is a financial crime no matter how you justify how the government is being unfair charging taxes because the law is absolute that's why lawmakers needs to approve it first before it will be implemented. I think you are looking a validation for your point from person that will accept your ideology.

But as a normal person abiding the law, Imho any for of tax evasion according to your country law will make you a bad person no matter what is your reason because you are not following the law.

Being intentional mostly in this kind of case where it is mandatory to pay tax, is bad.
Am sure your conscience must have pricked you enough to admit to such reference.
It actually depends on how you earn, your country of residence.
Why do you think the government of most countries is fighting so hard to tax cryptocurrency?

It well known that the profit margin from cryptocurrency investment and trading is good, and how it is the means of income for many parading with unemployment status only on paper.
 
Evading taxes is an offence in almost every country, if not all countries. The rich may have become wise from learning how to avoid paying huge taxes, but they get lawsuits and risk imprisonment if caught of being coy. Imagine the case where there's a legal means of earning and taxes is willfully avoided?

The moral debate at least to me is useless, what you should care about is if you are engaging in tax evasion or tax avoidance, tax evasion is illegal as you should pay your share to the government, mostly because you do not want to end up in jail, however tax avoidance is completely legal as if you can use the existent laws to reduce the taxes you pay or to not pay anything at all then what you are doing is legal and no one can judge you because of it.

This is a very subjective question to be honest. It's like is it correct if I kill a terrorist which killed 50 people. Problem is it's still illegal might not be unethical on your part but in all terms it's illegal. I would rather say do what your conscious says. If it says that it's no big deal then go for it, otherwise don't do it because ultimately it's your share to the community and even the resources that you use. I know it might not be very equitably distributed you might be getting too less in return of giving too much, but this is how it is.

Many things are not fair, but it will not stop them from going on.
You will find yourself in big problems with the government if you refuse to pay your tax and somehow avoid it. You may be able to avoid it for some time, but not forever and the day you will be caught, you will have a big problem especially if you are in a country where tax is heavily depended on by the government as a source of revenue generation. Pay your tax and avoid issues.

For some people, maybe something like this will clearly become a dilemma where we are drained and dredged for what we have, both from salary and in terms of business.
But in other conditions I still think of something that is quite simple at least for myself.
I get public facilities which I think are good enough for now in my area, on the other hand I also get security and comfort in my life, even though this is because maybe there is an influence from myself, who really don't associate too often with outsiders on the other side. there is also a contribution from the government that does the work of the taxes that we distribute.
There are some benefits starting from health and education although sometimes people in other countries don't really know the taxes now but I'm not going to argue with that because let's say I'm paying compensation for my life right now and I don't want to be bothered with lots of thoughts even though sometimes taxes make me a little difficult but as long as it keeps me out of trouble then I won't think too much.

Yes it is legal to avoid tax not that it may be intentional or in an obstinate manner but the law allows for someone to pay lesser tax for the sake of other charges or commitment that he has carried out whether social responsibility to the environment where the person or company is located in. For example if an oil company is exploring a certain environment, it can also be agreed that they take up some social responsibility like taking care of the environment, scholarship in education to youth in the environment etc while they per lesser tax to the government. The point like you rightly noted is that it is legal in itself, you can be under taxed in the same light.

This is a definite dilemma. The main issue is where taxes are spent. In one fantasy story, taxpayers could choose where their taxes would be spent. Obviously, most of the taxes would end up in other people's pockets.  The budget is a tidbit for the unscrupulous.

In the eyes of the law, if we try to evade taxes then it’s considered a crime that we have to pay after. That’s the reason why we need not to avoid from paying taxes, otherwise we will be put into jail in no time. However, you are not alone OP. I am also feeling that everything is unfair for us that what we worked hard is not well compensated due to high tack deduction. But what can we do? We are living in a country where tax is a must to sustain the growing economy of our country, and so we just have to abide with the law and pay taxes without complaining.

Majority of countries or all of them does have tax implementation which we know that this one is really that crucial when it comes to economic development on a certain country which as being a citizen then you are

really that obliged on paying up a tax. Thing here is that each country do differs when it comes to taxation percentage which there are places which do charge or reduce less and there are ones who do deducted out and holding up your neck which it would really be situational. If someone do evade taxes then basing on the books is illegal but there are lots of ways on evading taxes.  ;D

Bad person? Not really though because there are really that moment or situation in life on which you would really be seeing that paying up on the right way but being abused
or you do see that its already wrong then this is where instinct kicks in.

I agree with you on the subject terms of law and morality and commenting based on the law according to the ops it means he will be commiting and offense if he refused to pay his tax since tax invasion is a serious crime in most countries and just as you rightly said the legitimacy of taxation lies in its utilization for the common good of everyone.

But in a situation where the government fails in its responsibility of providing a basic standard of living for its citizens, it becomes hard for the citizens to obey the law by paying taxes.

The way I see it, some taxes are fair and everyone should be paying their fair share, but some taxes are absolutely wrong and I have no moral issues when people try and get past them.  Like one of my good buddies who lives in India, they charge 40% tax on precious metals/stones of any type when you import them in..40 fucking percent!  That's insane, and it's wrong.  I know much of Europe is like this too.

It's ugly, so, sometimes I feel it's okay, and it's getting past bullshit.

There are ways to legally avoid paying huge taxes and you’re not bad if you follow such but of course if you intentionally do this, as per law it is punishable. Paying taxes might be a big problem to many especially those who are not earning that much but you can’t escape that as it is part of your obligation. Paying more taxes means more money for me, and I prefer to follow the law to avoid any problem in the future.

For a state to survive, it needs to collect taxes from its citizens. The amount of this tax is directly proportional to how good or bad your country's economy is. If the tax rates are high in your country, there is only one thing to do: wait for the elections. I don't have any other suggestions because I don't think tax evasion methods are right. If you are not happy with the government, you should vote to change the government in the next election.

Taxes are automatically deducted from the salaries of civil servants. In private companies, taxes are collected from employers. In other words, every employee pays taxes to the government. If the amount of this tax is high, the country's economy is not doing well and unfortunately the citizens pay the penalty. In such a situation I cannot express an opinion on tax evasion. Taxes must be paid and it is a civic duty.

Just because one doesn't pay the taxes perfectly, it doesn't mean that the person is bad or he hadn't done anything to his country. It is everyone's responsibility to pay taxes, but the government have got more responsibility to use it for the betterment of the population. This isn't happening with most of the countries. We earn hard and later the taxes need to be paid for our hard earnings. This also goes into the pockets of the politicians. What's the need for such a tax to be paid.

if the government is using the taxes wisely, then, i have no problem paying my taxes diligently. but if i see that the government is overpowered by corruption, maybe, i will think twice of declaring all my taxable earnings. being a good or bad person is a very subjective matter. it all depend on what angle are you looking at? is it about being good citizen in your country or just basically as a person living on this earth? because if you are not harming anyone and you are just living what you think is right, then there's nothing to worry about.

From a legal point of view, tax evasion is clearly a violation of the law. Even though taxes are burdensome for everyone, both individuals and companies, this is a way for the government to get state revenue. For adherents of anarcho, of course this is something wrong, this is extortion of the people. But no country uses anachroisms, so we don't need to go into that further

Cases of tax evasion may be carried out by large companies. Wait, maybe it's not called tax evasion, they're trying to trick taxes so that the amount paid isn't as big as it should be. Large companies will employ many tax experts to be able to reduce tax spending. I can't explain this in detail because I'm not a legal expert, but what these tax experts do can reduce tax spending without violating the law.

One way to avoid taxes and reduce employee costs is to move the company to a low-tax, low-wage country. It is the easiest way to keep company taxes and expenses down. Developing countries are usually the preferred location. This is a win win solution, for companies it will reduce spending, for developing countries it will get new investment and job vacancies

I'm not sure I can avoid tax at all, in every purchase I'm subject to direct tax which slowly I don't realize that I'm not a bad person in this field.
But tax violations are legally and morally a crime, but sometimes it's worth looking at your country's tax management preferences occasionally. In my country, cases of tax corruption are very visible where tax people have unreasonable wealth (some have been dragged into cases of tax violations). At this point, they seem to lead people to think it's better to be bad people than to be good people to facilitate the real bad guys.

We are all the same; everything pays taxes, and it is your duty as a citizen of your country no matter what. Don't compare yourself to bad guys that are doing bad things because they are not helping your country. The real purpose of this is to improve your country and help it by paying taxes. Though I know that you are struggling to pay it, we don't have a choice because if you don't do it, you'll be facing legal problems, so it is better to pay it.

Tax evasion is a criminal liability so trying to avoid paying tax is against the law. These are one of the issues of prominent people here (athletes, politicians and actors) who failed to pay their tax on time and was charged of tax evasion for not paying their obligation.

Sometimes we think it's unfair for us to pay taxes especially for workers who don't have sufficient salary to live comfortably. But why we're oblige to pay taxes? thinking it is too much since goods, services etc. already have taxed. You're not bad if you chose not to pay, however it's a moral obligation since these taxes will be use to finance the Government's projects including health, education, public infrastructure etc. or in short it helps build the nation. The fact that it is use for the betterment of the country can make us realize that our little contribution can make a big changes.

Just as what I've just recently watch, there are some countries that are tax free and still progressive based on the information that was relayed.
But most countries do have a law on taxation and it is every citizens obligation to comply on it. Whether we like it or not, everything that we gain as per income capita, it will be taxed even if we don't want to. While some are genius and they legally avoid it through some exceptions, they all have the means but for an individual like me and you, this is permanent just like the typical thing we hear about death and taxes. There's no skip on it as you've said, every goods and services we buy, there's always the added tax that we have to buy.

It doesn't make you a bad person. It doesn't even make you an irresponsible person. You're just a person who did wrong to the government by not paying taxes. I guess that's all.

I'm not from a country that has "a model similar of European healthcare and employment insurance." Tax is therefore a lot harder for us to swallow. We pay taxes every time we move, but wherever the taxes go, we can only guess. You can't even get a free paracetamol here.

Anyway, tax avoidance is completely legal. You can find ways to avoid paying as much tax as possible. This is what the rich people are doing.

Not sure about it because there are ways where you can legally prevent high amount of taxes which is completely different from tax evasion. In the OP's case, he wasn't really avoiding tax illegally since he's salary is still a subject for taxation and I guess that's an automatic salary deduction (correct me If I'm wrong).
We all know that most of those people who has a high income is also responsible for paying high taxes. So, it really sounds not fair for you who worked hard to earn such good income, as a result people would always find a way how to reduce their taxes legally.

You can avoid/reduce your taxes afaik legally, but if we assume that it's not for that purpose, but simply because we question where the taxes go in the first place, then we simply won't have an answer because the premise is simply unknown. I mean yea, we know how much we get taxed, but we don't know where exactly it goes, or the transparency rather isn't enough.

I wouldnt exactly say avoiding tax itself is wrong. It would just mean that you don't think the state doesnt do due diligence with what they do with it. At the same time though, a state could simply kick you out if you don't want to pay taxes, or avoid them legally. That's just how it is when it comes to power.

There are two concepts that have been pointed out in the thread but not made explicit, one is tax evasion and the other is tax avoidance. The first consists of not paying taxes to which you are obliged, thus committing a crime or misdemeanor, depending on the jurisdiction and amount. The other is to take advantage of legal loopholes to pay as little tax as possible.

I do not even discuss tax avoidance morally. It is legal, period. As for tax evasion, one can be a very good person and be fed up with being robbed of taxes from all sides and not seeing those taxes reflected in public services, or one can be a mafioso who evades taxes. So I would not base the judgment of whether one is a good or bad person on that.

People find loop holes to go around paying their taxes all the time or trying to reduce what would be paid. While some extremely rich people find a way to avoid paying their fair share in taxes. Would you say these guys are good guys still?
Understandably, in some places, paying taxes are seen almost like a burden on the individual but taxes are used to bolster the infrastructures in place and also to help manage the public service. So taxes are instrumental in running the country.
I definitely know you won’t be regarded as a good person if you evade tax. Tax evasion is frowned upon by the authorities in most countries as well. Better not to evade tax.

Well, who is going to pay for all the services that needs to be rendered by the government, if we are not going to pay those taxes? Let's take one of those services as an example ==> Prisons

" There were more than 1.2 million people in prison in 2020, according to data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Spending per prisoner varies widely across states, from about $18,000 per prisoner in Mississippi to $135,978 per prisoner in Wyoming in 2020. States spent an average of $45,771 per prisoner for the year. "

So taxpayers have a choice..... they either pay the taxes to keep the murderers and child rapist off the streets and locked up in prisons... or they stop paying and then these people are released and roaming the streets for their next victim.  ::) ::) ::) 

This is just one of the services that are rendered by the government. (Government also provide a lot of jobs in the public and private sector with their large tenders for huge projects)

The government tax the citizens, but the citizens are still living good. Can you compare a country that is highly taxing their citizens but the citizens are having quality lives to a country in Africa or Asia that have bad economy and more people living with poverty? What I see about this is that the guy does not know how those countries that are not developed are like as they pay little tax and yet more people are uneducated and more are unemployed.

Let us take United Kingdom as an example. They pay high tax. But why are people from other continents like Africa and Asia leave their countries permanently to live there after the high tax they are paying in UK? If the person, I mean the OP is from a country like UK, probably he did not know the benefit. Let him go to some countries in Africa or Asia and see how things are like there to know that paying tax is not what that really matters, but good living.

Some rich Arab countries do not collect taxes for the income of their citizens because they have enormous income from oil, so usually countries that have high taxes because they do not have natural resources as a source of income so that the way to finance the country with high taxes, is indeed it is not pleasant to have to go through this, but it must be remembered that the tax does not go entirely to officials because it is also used for infrastructure development and it is enjoyed by many people. As citizens, we should contribute to the country where we live with taxes, even though it looks like being robbed.

The person who does not pay taxes is a bad person because the state has one of its most important income items represented in taxes.  if the taxes are so high that all classes complain about them, there are no ways to reduce those taxes to the minimum and reasonable limit, and it is in which the citizen pays them without regret, then there is a problem in cash management In that state, and then politicians must amend this problem by enacting more laws or even dismissing the government. The country with multiple resources puts several sources of income. In addition to taxes, we find the contribution of the sovereign investment fund, the pension fund and other sectors that make the tax rate of the total income not exceeding 30%.

As a good citizen, you will try to reduce the taxes imposed on you to the minimum level, starting from reading the laws to learn how to deal with taxes, to participating in the political changes that lead to reducing taxes, but I have to commit to paying them at a minimum level. countries do not have taxes, but there is an illegal tax, which is inflation paid by the poorest more than others, legal taxes are better than illegal taxes.

Not paying taxes to the government can be said to be against the law in all countries that have taxes that are required of their subjects. So if you don't pay tax, it's obvious that you're just one of those tax evaders, and that's an illegal one, as far as legality is concerned.

Then another thing is that paying taxes to the government is also biblical if you believe in the content of the Bible.

OP's assumption shows me a self-interested point of view, I'm not sure what the tax rate will be in each area but it's clear how many people want to promote self-interest more, always remember that You are born with many rights that the law allows, but in fact, the opposite is the obligation that you have contributed to it. People just like to receive back but don't like to contribute shows narrowness (for some subjects), so I think paying taxes is the responsibility of each of us, as long as you don't break the law in the area where you live. Putting the problem in the form of tax money that will be used for the development of our country and community, but many people think that it is limiting their rights, I still want to repeat it for the common good, don't just bring its negatives to the whole.

The tax will be returned to the community through public services so that the community can benefit from the results of the taxes they pay. And to say whether someone is bad or good by not paying taxes, every citizen must obey the rules.

Those who don't pay taxes may not be bad people but feel burdened with the obligation to pay taxes, especially if the amount is very high. They can go to the tax office for a reduction so their taxes are not large. In addition, I think there are limits on the amount of tax that people can choose so that it will be adjusted according to the amount of their salary.

Maybe there is also an office that will cut the salaries of employees to be deposited directly to the tax office so that people will not feel burdened with the obligation to pay taxes.

Recently the government in my country introduced a tax that has been waived by the past government. A country that is ravaged by inflation, the minimum wage has not been increased for a decade and is introducing more taxes. There are also multiple taxation through goods and services which has increased the suffering of the people. Many small and medium-scale businesses suffer from double taxation which they transfer to consumers.

There will always be temptations to invade tax because this over-taxation places financial burdens on individuals. But it will be wrong to invade tax because it is against the law of the country. Tax invasion in my country is a serious crime that can lead to imprisonment. We have to keep enduring until a good government that has compassion for the masses comes to power because tax invasion is not an option.

Most of us feel unfair and unhappy with the taxes that the government sets. But the fact that we pay taxes means that part of us is contributing to the construction of the country, and part of us is spending money to buy back peace and work for ourselves. Without taxes, the government cannot maintain the state apparatus, and they cannot create the society in which we live and exist. What we have, such as stable jobs, houses, schools, education, and necessities... are all contributed by the government, without the government, there would be no such things. Paying taxes makes us feel like they're stealing our money, but it's not, and we need to comply with paying taxes in full.

Actually yes, imagine if many of your country men do the same do you think that there will be a budget to use by government to any project that can develop your country? Just think about that, you can get criminal charges for not paying your taxes so better follow the law and be a good citizen since you and your family can benefit with that.

Forget about corruption issues but rather focus on good deeds since this can give big improvements on your country if there's huge funds available to use.

Paying taxes is a obligation, so when you cheat with everything so you don't pay taxes, of course you run away from your responsibility even though we know the government is too greedy in managing its finances. It is not justified to run away from your responsibility to pay taxes because the tax revenue received by the government should be distributed to many other things that are in need.

In my country, I pay taxes every day indirectly to the government. Everything I buy is taxed, and I have no idea how much tax I pay the government each year. Even I have to pay taxes from trading crypto assets, regardless of whether I lose due to price volatility or profit.

If you evade taxes, then you are definitely a bad person. What if many or everyone thinks like you and doesn't pay taxes? Our country's economy would collapse quickly, and then we would be in a much worse position than paying taxes. To be honest, I also hate paying taxes because we don't earn much, and paying taxes makes life difficult for us. But if we look further, not paying taxes will have more serious consequences, so whether we like it or not, paying taxes is an obligation we must fulfill.

Food, clothes, or anything you buy in store aren't taxed because they're not a special or expensive product like cigarette, alcohol, lambo, etc.

If you don't want to pay tax, it's fine as long as you built your own country. You shouldn't touch the road, drink free water, free service and any facilitate by the government where you live because you're an expense for them.

The people, who pay taxes usually receive all sorts of public goods and services-healthcare, education, security, nice and clean streets and roads. The people, who refuse to pay taxes shouldn't use all those goods and services, otherwise they look like thieves, who are using something, which was paid by someone else. Does that make them bad? I don't know. Maybe yes, maybe no. There are way bigger criminals that the "average Joe", who decided not to pay taxes over his side income. ;D Not paying taxes doesn't hurt anyone else in the society(at least not in a direct way).

Yes, I think your hypothetical self in your thread is a 'bad' person, definitely not as bad as a person who kills, or rob, but still you are violating the rules that has been applied and (maybe) agreed by the society.

All that being said I still have a second thought, this will be the next question I assume it still related to your question. The reason why I consider your hypothetical self is a bad person is because you are doing something illegal, so my question is how if you 'legally' avoiding tax, like there is some loophole in the law that could allows you to not paying tax and you are using it, so you won't be violating any laws, are you still a bad person?

That’s definitely a light in yo what you guys face over there and I can’t really comprehend but, it’s been the bases why your a developed nation and why you seem to have more opportunities than the under developed and developing nations or so they say.
Still, from the narrative in the OP, taxing already taxed commodities don’t seem like a good thing to me and even on top of that, evading taxe is a punishable crime and no matter how you call it or the reason behind your taxe evasion, crime remains crime.

It’s typically a case of the Robinhood. Though he helped the poor, it was still done through crime.

In theory if you evade taxes you are a bad person and could be fined for it. Because of course as a good citizen, you have to pay taxes to be able to help the development and economy in your country. So if possible, you can pay your taxes and give your contribution to your country. However, if you feel reluctant to pay taxes, and it seems that you are being fooled, yes, you can choose not to pay it, but of course it will be quite difficult to do so and moreover there are sanctions that can be imposed on you. So like it or not you have to pay taxes.

The best answer to your question is here in the section, there are a couple of topics about "the state should provide a normal standard of living", "why people live badly", ... and other similar topics. The meaning of many boils down to - why is it so bad to live in some countries, small pensions, bad medicine, and so on and so forth.
The answer is simple:
1. The population does not pay taxes (your question is here somewhere).
2. The state/authority, chosen by the citizens themselves, is extremely inept at managing the country's budget
3. Corruption (your question is here too, because tax evasion is often related to corrupt practices with employees of the fiscal authorities)

Technically and legally, avoiding tax is bad but why does people try to avoid tax? It's because it takes a big percentage of people's gross income. If you're a big tax payer and you're avoiding paying a lot of tax, that makes you bad because it's unfair for those average people paying their taxes while you earn a lot and still try to avoid paying your taxes. But there are legal ways were a person or a business can minimize the amount of tax they're paying. I'm not that familiar about it but afaik they use their expenses.
But you can't always avoid tax since you're already paying your tax when you buy something. Also, they deduct your tax or you pay your tax based on your income so it won't really exhaust all your money.

This is the dilemma in it in a situation that the government does not carry out her obligations especially aspect of finance from the tax payers money. It is still a crime to evade payment of tax because it has been made a law and contravention of it attracts punishment or fine. However, whether the government does the right thing is also in the jurisdiction of the law that holds the government accountable for public funds.

You know that taxes are like the fuel for Government to function so you're basically limiting their capability to provide services to you and to your fellow citizens if you intentionally evade paying them.

Learn the difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion before preaching about technicalities and legalities.

Not necessarily gross income. There are different forms of taxes and the most commonly known is personal income tax which is usually computed based on income NET of deductible expenses.

It is unimaginable because a person will truly live in an insecure way if he continuously violates the state rules that have been set for all citizens of their respective countries. I prefer to be a good citizen by obeying the existing rules and not trying to break the written state rules, because this can make me comfortable in all ways, be it when working to make money, or when I'm resting with my family inside the house.

Even if it can't be forgotten, I don't think it's good to remember it continuously because civilians are not heroes who can easily eradicate the problem of corruption that occurs in their country. Because it is done by people who are in the government based on their own intentions and if someone can't stand that kind of attitude of the government. I think someone needs to form a forum or community to hold a demonstration on eradicating corruption and report it to the authorities if corruption has actually been proven.

The big answer is yes! Even if you think that taxes will go to the pocket of those corrupt government officials who wants their bellies be a big as a pregnant women. Those taxes if be used in correctly, will benefit not just you but all of the netizen belong to your country.

Yes, it's still a crime to evade tax despite how the person may feel about his tax payments being used for things he may not like or agree with. In some cases where the government is deeply corrupt and despite taxing heavily their citizens, there is nothing to show for it. No infrastructure or a failing public service, it would be less pleasant paying taxes.

Ordinarily, I think people wouldn't mind and would happily pay their  taxes if the public service works as it should. I know I would. But when the government is not accountable for public funds or you don't like what the government uses money to do, the best thing is to vote them out and not evade paying tax.

This question has been on my mind for a long time, the government system in my country gives special authority to one agency to oversee taxes by asking all companies to withhold taxes from employees before salary is received. All monthly expenses deducted by the company are attached to the payslip, such as taxes and health insurance.

If someone asks who is the most vicious robber, the answer is the government. The government is only concerned with state income by torturing its people, the government also does not care about the fate of its people who are increasingly squeezed due to inflation. Then the question arises, is the money collected from tax collection properly managed by the government? I'm not sure the government is managing the money properly, some of it is channeled for infrastructure development and some for the construction of houses for people who work in the tax office.

I don't have a judgment about good or bad, but about whether life is fair to us there are unfair injustices that we ascribe from that good life or other people affecting us we think it's a bad idea think a bit personal. I can understand the feeling of people who are working every day and have to pay income in life, so what? That tax is not used for nefarious purposes, most of it is in the construction and development of the country, without the tax, it would be difficult for the state apparatus to function properly in the current social context. Now, I read a story about the kingdom of Butan where the king's government even gave money to the people, and they weren't much different from the commoners, so there are really wonderful things in life, don't think only of personal interests and forget that we all share the same big house, the earth.

The fair distribution of budgetary funds is a big problem for any state. Every official is trying to get his share of the pie, and as a result, quite a large part of the budget goes nowhere. Can the introduction of blockchain in the distribution of the budget solve this problem (because then anyone will be able to trace the money flows). I think - yes, so it is unlikely that blockchain will be implemented in the budget management system

well, @OP, Personally, for me, you might not be a bad person, but I guess you have the law to be content with. If you don't pay your tax, some way, you can go free, but most of the time you will not, and any time it's discovered, the system can basically detect all the tax you have been avoiding and you will pay it all at once, plus the fact that you will be in violation of the law for trying to cheat the system by not paying your tax. In my country, there's no way you can avoid the tax; if you do, you will face the law when you get caught. Just pay your taxes and be a good citizen.


Cheer 🥂, Dr.Bitcoin_strange👺👺

By law, you are a bad person because that is called tax evasion. Aside from other sources of revenue, the smooth running of government affairs like the development of a country, construction of roads, and government payment of civil servants' salaries are through money that government generates via a collection of tax, Therefore not paying your tax means you don't want the development of your country which is bad.

Speaking about laws and trying out to violate on whats been imposed then you would really be considered to be a bad person but we know that there are things in life on which it isnt really in order on which we do know that there are corrupted countries and officials on it and this is why it wont really be  that surprising that there would be someone or people would be thinking up this way on which they've seen that taxes arent really that being implied or being used on the right way and this is why they would really be evading up tax as much as possible because they cant really be able to see such progress on a certain place.
Although even on progressive countries we do really still able to say that there are ones who dont pay up sufficient or right taxes and its something that in reality that we cant really be able to stop.

The government raises money and provides healthcare facilities for its people through taxes. Paying taxes significantly contributes to that. How will the government be able to administer and supply the things it provides for us if you and I do not pay taxes? So good residents of a nation shouldn't choose to avoid paying taxes. A decent citizen pays taxes because he is aware that the government uses the revenue to maintain the country's infrastructure.

I'm definitely not living in a country wherein healthcare and general welfare is top-tier, or something that can definitely help the impoverished people but to answer your question, yes, somewhat. The government, albeit not being perfect and most of the time corrupt, still provides services that help the impoverished and other sectors of the population. How are they able to do it? With taxes and donations. No matter how small your taxes might be, it still adds up to the budget of the government.

You are not a big bad guy if you managed to avoid paying taxes, but you are somewhat bad in a sense that you are benefitting from the public services the government creates and the public provide without giving your share.

well, if the government has set taxes, then we have to follow them, whether that's good or not. however, what I do know is that the use of tax funds is for the development of the country. like road repairs, or something else. funds from tax proceeds have many benefits, but sometimes it is difficult for some people to pay them. However, not paying taxes will be punished by the government, whether it's in the form of fines or other things. So, in the eyes of the state, not paying taxes is a bad thing.

I'll tell you that you're definitely not a bad person if you just want to provide yourself and your family with a better standard of living in a way that you won't let those at the top literally rob you because they invent a new tax every day. Some will say that taxes have a purpose and there is no doubt about it, but if you live in a country that is highly corrupt and where you can't do anything without bribing someone, you wonder what all these taxes are and where that money goes.

I'm not saying we should stop paying taxes completely now, but I know some people who pay taxes even on signature campaign earnings because they live in fear that the state will punish them if they find out. What I want to say is that the state doesn't really care how you survive, so let's say the governor of my central bank who has a salary of almost 7000 EUR publicly gives advice to people to buy items on discount since they have a minimum wage of maybe 500-600 EUR.

I'm not from that country but I don't even get to enjoy the health care benefits that I am entitled to. Maybe I'm still young and healthy, thank God, but as much as I want to see where my taxes go is helping others then I'm good with that. I think if you avoid paying taxes, it's within your conscience if you feel guilty for being bad or not with that. Whether the government chases you or not, somehow you'll think of it when you sleep at night so it's up to yourself to judge yourself.

A lot of the money that is earned every month through physical and mental labor ends up in taxes to our government. If you want to talk on the phone, you have to pay extra tax, if you buy something, you have to pay extra text, if you go shopping, you have to pay tax separately. If you want to buy a car, you have to pay the same amount as tax to the government. At present it is becoming very difficult for common people to buy various things due to additional taxes. It is a different matter if the tax is increased over time, but the government increases the tax on the people whenever it feels like it, which is very troublesome for the people.

My point is, one layer tax is okay, like, tax my salary, no problem but why do you tax food, electronics and all other staff? It's like, you work, pay taxes but you go at the store and you pay taxes on store products with money that you've been taxed on. At the same time, the store owner always pays taxes on his income. Does this look fair? Logically, if I pay tax on my income and store owner pays taxes on his income, I shouldn't be buying food, electronics, clothes or anything with additional taxes. That's why I think that it's morally acceptable to avoid taxes if you can.

That's not actually true in some European countries but overall, you are right. They'll knock on your door if you don't pay taxes but they never knock on your door when you left are without income.

We have to be patriotic if the law says everyone should pay tax, if you don't pay it you're not only a bad person but one of those that have made the economy situations bad as the way they were because of your insurbodinat role in community development through your own quota by paying tax, when you do the needful from your own personal part, it's left for the government to take their own part towards the community development by doing Justice with the funds collected through taxation, therefore pay your tax as at when due.

I totally agree with your thinking, paying taxes is really our duty because it's the way for the government to sustain the economy and the country.  but many governments are abusing that and taxing everything in our lives, and that's not fair. i'm not advocating tax evasion, but if you can avoid any of it, you should.  We cannot obey every government order without knowing what is right and what is wrong.

In many countries, large companies receive large tax breaks from governments and grants to develop their business or loans with a very small percentage that is close to 0. And small businesses always have to survive. Large business always lobbies for favorable conditions for their companies, so not all business in the country is in the same conditions.

Tax evasion is a common phenomenon in most countries. Because it negatively impacts the economy, causing social inequality, eroding the tax base, and losing revenue. So whether it's tax evasion or avoidance, By taking advantage of loopholes in the law, circumventing the law, or deliberately breaking the law to evade paying taxes, it also causes a huge loss of revenue for the government. If you look at it from an economic perspective, tax evasion and avoidance all lead to the situation that resources are allocated in the wrong place, inefficiently, and unfairly between businesses or taxpayers. So the new government created the law to make it fair to many people.

When viewed from the legal side in government, someone who does not pay taxes will definitely be sanctioned and given a penalty in accordance with the regulations in the government. This means that people who don't pay taxes, when viewed from the side of government law, can be called people who don't obey the rules. But if referred to as a bad person, in my opinion it seems not. Because the act of not paying taxes, in my opinion, is not a crime, but just a little negligent in complying with government regulations.

But when viewed from the point of view of justice, I think that most governments in a country take too much tax from the people. Starting from the place where you live, food, vehicles, to the clothes you wear, everything contains taxes. I personally also sometimes think, is this all fair. But if you think about it again, if the government is honest and trustworthy in carrying out its duties, these taxes actually return to the people who give them. For example, roads, security, education, and health facilities, all of that is certain from the results of taxes from the community. So at this point I can't complain about taxes, because all these taxes actually come back to me and to all people.

Tax evasion? It is undoubtedly considered illegal by the law, and from the government's perspective, it is a violation. However, we all realize that every government provides an unfair financial governance in certain aspects. That's why many people consider tax avoidance to be something reasonable.

Taxes are associated with public facilities provided by the government. Yet, are you certain that the government can flawlessly manage all the money they generate from taxes? Starting from this point, the public becomes aware that the government can still engage in deceitful practices, but they are adept at legalizing such actions.

I am not advocating for everyone to avoid taxes. However, I am also one of the individuals who feel somewhat disappointed with the tax system in my country.

Tax avoidance and tax evasion are distinct from one another. Nobody enjoys paying a substantial portion of their income in taxes personally; it just doesn't make sense.  As opposed to tax avoidance, which is allowed, I believe we should aim to pay as little tax as possible. The goal of tax avoidance is to minimize your tax obligations and increase your tax-free income. It is entirely legal. You can change your income and claim deductions, credits, and other tax benefits if you pay taxes. Simply put, tax avoidance is when you take advantage of the tax system.

Starting a business is one approach to achieve this. Businesses can take advantage of tax write-offs and deductions. Other examples abound, but this is the first to come to mind. Therefore, use legal means of avoidance rather than illegal means of evasion if you wish to avoid paying as much in taxes.

- www.economicshelp.org/blog/glossary/tax-avoidance/
- https://mtaxz.com/what-is-tax-avoidance-and-tax-evasion/

I guess it's the bottom line. If we have criminalized government then avoiding taxes doesn't sound like a "big crime"! So in my country "tax evading and other embezzlement schemes are not punished with some big-time jail sentence. People who are caught mostly end up in house arrest and those ankle bracelets. Some of them get in jail when some really big amounts are in question, but after a year or two they are free with all the millions they stole. But it's a "Big League", I guess every country has it...

But when it comes to us "ordinary" people, I pay all my taxes, at least the ones I am aware of. Today it's hard to avoid it... and I can't afford to get into some big trouble with my wife and kids around.


I don't wish anyone to think that I am advocating for the same, but I am also disappointed in my country and how they "do it". It's not a lonely example, there are many countries with "fucked up" systems!

So I wouldn't say that OP is a bad person if he manages to avoid taxes... but from experience and all the "life stories" I heard about, not everyone gets away with it. Everyone should be aware of the possible consequences before they decide to go against "the rules".

I do avoid some taxes and I don't feel like it makes me a bad person. Let's break it down, shall we?
Why would it make me bad? Is not paying people who are trying to cheat you unethical?

The way I see it, I'm being taxed for certain things that I do, and certain things that I don't do. There are fair and unfair taxes and it's our job to filter them and not be a mindless sheep who does as it's told. An example of just tax is tax that you pay when you use something, like a road tax that drivers have to pay, or a tax in the form of yearly car checkups that we all have to pay for, despite knowing it's in perfect shape.
I pay all my bills, I also pay VAT, which is literally a tax on everything you buy.

Unjust taxes? A great example is inheritance tax. Your relative died and left you something, it's your family wealth going from one person to the other. Why in hell would I pay part of it to the government, who did not help me to get it and now wants a cut? I'd say it's in your best interest not to pay that. In some places they have tax on your pets. You have to tell the government that you have a cat and pay them. What kind of stupid shit is that?

Fortunately they don't want me to pay a tax on my held bitcoin, but who knows what they'll come up with in a year or two. Anyway, if they do, I'm not going to rat myself out to them. I'm going to keep my coins a secret and never pay that stupid tax.

Of course it is a serious offense whom I will never support. The government of a country has to provide a proper solution of various problems. In this regard, If tax pay is discouraged the government of that country must face major economic problems. On the other hand, when an ordinary person pays 50 percent of his income, the tax provider must want to enjoy the maximum opportunity and the advantages from the country. It cannot even ignore his right. However, the OP mentions inflation but that is currently artificially consisted by Ukraine and Russia war. Due to the war, inflation has been affected in most countries of the world. I do not want to blame any government for this.

In huge transactions? I doubt. You are still paying taxes with daily needs, or things you are buying on a daily basis. Sometimes taxation is unfair especially to corrupted countries. Taxation is a good idea but if it will just be gong to corrpted officials' pocket, I won't mind avoiding it. Perhaps in my country wherein there's a huge tax percentage to purchases especially expensive ones. Things are okay and all but no economic progress can be seen. The money should be used with government projects but happened to just be a cashcow to some bad individuals. This I guess guilts me more, than actually paying it. It is quite becoming a waste of money.

Oh men! This question is not only for Europe but also to my country in Africa and I also believe it is all over the world. What you have explained is what exactly happening in my country on the inflation aspect but the only difference between Europe and African countries is that, the taxation is not as the Europe. But our salaries still get exhausted from tax. The salaries are stagnant while the cost of living is increasing day and night.

There is another thing again, the country leaders would take loan from world banks IMF and tax the industries to pay back the loan so in return the industries will increase their goods to the wholesales and the wholesales in their own increase the price to the retails and finally the retails have not option to increase it to the customers. So we all pay tax from the womb.

Well the tax laws are different across countries while it's mild in countries like mine it's very strick in other countries, some countries has a 40% tax rate which is very harsh, in honesty evading task is a crime regardless of if we think it's good or not you can be punished if you are caught doing so.

I would be brief about this in other to be a law abiding individual of a country you must always Respect and obey the laws and regulations guiding that country.

Ethically for me it's quite simple. You are a customer and the government is the services' provider. If you are satisfied with their services, you should pay your taxes accordingly, because that is the fair thing to do. However, if the services aren't being efficient, if they don't execute what they promise to do, if they are corrupt, then you, as customer, will be in your right to deny them taxes, because it's like to go to a restaurant, order the most expensive meal and receive rotten food or the wrong meal in return.

Anyway, keep in mind I'm talking ethically, and not morally or by the rules of the game we are playing.

It is not about being a bad or a good person because you pay taxes or not, it is about losing privileges in some cases, freedom, that is why in some countries taxes are something of a sense of duty and if you do not comply they fine you or they put you in prison

I think that the solution to your moral situation is easy to solve, move to a country where the impositions are not so restrictive or tax, but surely that will bring social deficiencies to which you are used to. In any case, if you don't want to move you are left with the tricks that the accountants use to exempt taxes, there are, and sometimes they are worse than not paying taxes.
Anyway, it only can we do is pay taxes and it is not perfect, but for most of mortals is the least of their problems, sometimes.

Well, my country Nigeria definitely does not meet the standard of Europe in every area, but certainly, with the way things have been so far, I personally can not consider someone who does not pay taxes a bad person, I myself started paying taxes since around 2010 when I started working, in 2017, I quit salary work to start up my own business, I continued paying taxes till 2020 when I had to stop, at a point, It was as if I was just throwing money away, paying taxes and yet, our currency kept losing value, I stopped paying taxes and till this day, I've not and will never bother about taxes except something changes in my country.

but still that is against the law and tax evasion which you could get punished but in the eyes of law you are a bad person but for others not because we cant really blame you and others as we can't really see progress on it as well as a lot of corrupt official that are using our money, but again we slare obligated to pay the tax no matter what as it is a law. But even my self I haven't paying taxes for couple of years now but before that I've been paying tax for a long time

It is very important to always pay your taxes because morally it is the right thing to do. Paying your taxes is important for our country. Building its infrastructures, hospitals, public schools, and airports. If you do not pay your taxes, you could be breaking the law which could end up in paying fines or worse jail time for failure to pay your taxes.

Take for example the American actor Wesley Snipes, known for his movie role as the vampire hunter Blade. He made a lot of money but did not pay his takes. And as a result, he ended up facing jail time.

We do not consider how important it is to pay our taxes until we are in trouble. But we can avoid this problem by being good citizens of our country and contributing with our part to build a good strong nation.

Yes, breaking a law means you're violating a rule that is considered a bad deed imagine killing a person is a crime and a bad thing to do right? Then it's the same when you're avoiding taxes. But if you're not too blind in the system since we all know that there's a corrupt in the government then maybe a small business doesn't already need a tax since a small profit is already for their living. Maybe it would be good to say this to rich people who really do this thing.

The taxes you pay are what is use to pay civil workers and the government aren't just taxing you to put in the pockets, in continents like Europe that things work as it was designed to work we have to pay our taxes to enable the society keep getting quality services. The taxes in most of the things you mentioned are at the minimum, the government don't just taxes outrageously, they make sure the taxes doesn't make you go bankrupt.

If the government weren't using the taxes money effectively then you might protest by avoiding the taxes but in Europe those taxes are been used effectively to pay the public servants therefore as good citizens we have to continue paying our taxes, that's our contribution to the government.

It is not a fair practice, especially if everyone pays equal taxes regardless of income, and if legislators favor those with the highest incomes to pay even less taxes, which is really absurd. In addition, in my country VAT is one of the highest in the EU (25%), although for some things it is reduced to 13% - and because of this many people go to other countries and buy home supplies and food.


Maybe I generalized, but the east of the EU is much different from the West, and here you literally have to take care of yourself if you want to live a life worthy of man, and no one will ask you if you have to buy bread and milk today or if you will be hungry.

What I'm saying is that the elite (including politicians) are literally mocking those who live hard, and over 400,000 people have moved out of my country over the past 10 years and are now paying taxes elsewhere - what I would call perhaps the best tax avoidance someone can do to a corrupt government.

The government of every country collects taxes from the people of that country. Salaries and allowances of various government officials and employees are paid with the money received from the public as tax. Different products are generally taxed at different rates. If a product is produced in the country, relatively less tax is levied on that product and if a product is imported from abroad, a higher amount of tax is levied on that product. Everything would have gone well if the government had taxed the common man according to his means. But now the amount of tax has been increased a lot in different countries. As a result, buyers have to think twice when buying a large product. Tax is compulsory for every people but the government should keep this tax within a certain limit.

I believe paying taxes is our fundamental civic duty. Taxes are indispensable for maintaining and enhancing infrastructure and various public services including security, health care and many mores. They play a crucial role to finance all these services for overall benefit of the society. However, it is the responsibility of the government to ensure a fair tax system for all segments of the society. Moreover, it is vital to utilize tax revenue in a way that every penny is spent wisely and efficiently.

If seen from the legal view, of course avoiding taxes is a crime from disobedience to the regulations applied which is the obligation of the community itself, but usually there are certain levels of income to say someone has the obligation to pay taxes.
I am more inclined to support the government in this matter, although it has become a dilemma for myself, but with a note that the results of the tax that are applied to every community is well managed for development and development in the country itself, after all it will also be something that useful for us and our descendants in the future.

We all the different beliefs. I have nothing for those people that do not want to pay taxes because of their principles. But those rich people and huge companies that are generating huge profits but still doing tax evasions should be penalized.

In my case, I came from a very corrupt country. I also felt like the tax is not worth it since our corrupt officials and oligarchs are the ones benefitting. Aside from our regular tax deductions twice every month, there is also the yearly income tax and the most painful additional tax is our Value-Added Tax which is another additional 12% of the normal cost of our goods and services. 

In general a person that doesn't pay taxes is a bad person, because he uses the free services the government offers us like infrastructure and healthcare and doesn't help to finance it. If someone does it over a longer period of time in large scale he could even go to prison for it. But in most cases it's not that east to cheat the government out of its money. At least in my country the employer directly pays taxes and healthcare out of my salary, so there is no real option to hold the money back. When it comes to investment income it's a bit easier to try and avoid paying taxes, but I don't think it's worth the risk to get fined by the government. These fines have a huge interest and if we don't have the money anymore we could be stuck in debt for a long time. In case we are happy with our schools, public transportation, hospitals and doctors than I don't think we should try and trick the government out of our tax income.

I recently started a thread in which I posed the question of how I might avoid having to declare and pay taxes for my Bitcoin in the event that I ever decided to convert it to a fiat currency. The concept of taxes is quite complicated; some countries have excessive taxation, but it's put to good use for healthcare, infrastructure, education, and generally to provide better living conditions for their citizens. In some other countries, though, such as the Balkan ones, including Greece, the excessive taxation cannot be justified because the majority of public services that were mentioned earlier are malfunctioning.

For instance, we're paying huge amounts in road and fuel taxes, but our road infrastructure is mediocre to bad, to say the least, not to mention our healthcare. Thus, no, I wouldn't feel bad if I found a loophole to avoid paying taxes on my cryptocurrencies, for instance. Not only is taxation so high on necessary goods and groceries, but inflation, which has also skyrocketed, has rendered living unbearable. It's not only about cheating the government that disfavored us; it's about survival and striving for a quality life.

The tax system in every country has the same pattern, namely paying for certain goods or possessions. But to answer you are evil or not personally even the fact that I also avoid it. What's more, I don't have anything so precious. It's just that as citizens and have rules, taxes are still mandatory for anyone depending on the amount owned. Usually when we buy certain items, the amount that has been set includes the percentage of taxes and so on. The state regulates the percentage in such a way that its citizens do not feel burdened if they have to include the total amount.

Given that there are bad guys, then it means not all are the same. Those bad guys can evade tax but there are consequences about it so indeed we shouldn't follow it. I think the amount of taxes we pay will also depend on our capacity. I never been forced to pay my tax, I guess that is because I am only earning less and I don't work in a formal company. I am just another freelancer though there might be indirect taxes like when I trade my crypto or buy something but those amounts are not really alarming.

Like you said tax still helps to improve our country. Let's only hope that officials that handles it are not corrupt but it's also our fault if we vote the wrong person.

If you look at this problem not from the point of view of a private man in the street, but more globally, then it must be recognized that taxes in any state are necessary to fill the budget and finance them for social needs, national projects, and so on. If everyone evades paying taxes, the state will go bankrupt, which means that state employees will not receive salaries: doctors, teachers, military.
If there are excesses in increasing the number of taxes or their size, then this must be dealt with in a different way. The people elect the government and officials must be accountable to the people. This problem needs to be solved legally.

Paying taxes but feeling regretful, is this fair for taxpayers? I don't mean to encourage everyone to avoid paying taxes, but at the very least, we should contemplate whether our money is being used effectively or merely enriching corrupt government officials.

Once again, this depends on our individual perspectives and the country we reside in. In countries with stable political conditions and effective governance, this is not a significant issue. The flow of funds is transparent and well-directed. Taxpayers would feel content because public services align with the tax revenues collected. However, in countries with high levels of corruption, it only breeds social resentment, making tax payment less appealing.

        I live in the Russian Federation, but I understand you perfectly. I have one of the highest tax collections in the country, but the quality of roads and services remains incredibly poor. Therefore, it is worth considering this issue very seriously. Do I need to pay this tribute if I pay for everything personally? The state simply steals taxpayers' money and spends it on personal needs.
       According to some unofficial data, people simply work in a gray zone and refuse to share part of their profits and earnings.
       There is still no such mentality among the ruling class that citizens voluntarily agree to such conditions. Well, that time has not come. I'd rather put myself at risk than give away the taxes I've earned from crypto.

Evading tax will land you severe consequences, there's no doubt about it and why I'd never suggest or condone others to do so, or do it personally.

Though is it reasonable in this day and age for taxes to even be something that should exist? Why not print the required budget (just like they print bailouts of failed banks and corporations) and alleviate the pressure on the people? This will only enthuse employment, stimulate economies, and increase global happiness.

The reason why this will never happen is not because it is economically infeasible (it's very feasible), it's because in order to control people, you must oppress them...and taxes are very good at oppressing people.

So no, I don't think it makes you a bad person. I think it just adds an extreme amount of risk to your life. That's why no one does it, and why it's not viable to do it.

Let's first be clear and define what you really do ?
1. Are you simply not paying taxes and avoiding penalties?
2. optimize taxes within the legal framework?

Let's start with point 2: this is NORMAL ! Taxes are one of the costs that any business optimizes. The only condition is not to violate the law and not to use corruption

Let's go to point 1: this is bad. You don't pay taxes. And your neighbor's parents can't get the medical care they need or a normal pension. And why? Because no one pays taxes. And social guarantees from the state - this is one of the largest items in the state budget. And it is formed only from fees and taxes...

Everyone is obliged to pay taxes so that is our big obligation, and not something that we should only evade, otherwise you’ll be charge with a crime. Though I see your point OP, but we cannot change the fact that tax is very essential to run a country’s economy that’s why people should instead cooperate and pay taxes because that is for our own benefits too, if not, for our kids benefits in the future.

I believe there are legit ways to avoid tax, if you go about it in a legal manner then I am fine with that, these people taxing almost everything know that it is very bad and they created loopholes in the system for them to be able to avoid tax legally, this is what Trump was doing until he became the president and I believe most of these billionaires are doing it. if the government can print money from thin air then tax is a form of bondage to keep people perpetually poor. To me the tax system of some countries is just crazy, you tax this and tax that, they just want you to be at certain financial level all the days of your life.

You’re liable to accept punishments from tax-related issues if and only if you kept at it design people all in all, while the other is if you abused the glitch in the system which could happen. So with that regard, if you took it multiple times. Plus you can’t be worrying about your taxes when there are countless character on the market, as long you don’t so anything funny god walls are so funny and in this hypothetical characteristic. So all in all, if uou don’t do anything stupid from Alpha’s room. You’re pretty much absolved every one you blocksd.

Arent taxes is automatically deducted into our salaries on the time that we do received it? I do work on a government agency on which you are already that been deducted and other deductions life health insurances or whatsoever until your pay becomes even more lesser and its true that we are even taxed on the time that we do buy goods or even on those services that we are really that engaging into. Its true that it might really be that too much where taxes is everywhere but we know that this is really that indeed crucial when it comes to economic development on which it would really be just that normal that its citizens should really be having that obligation on paying up taxes. Speaking about on the law then once you do get caught about tax evasion then you would really be that possibly be imprisoned but we know that there are really
lots of ways on evading tax on which some people had been doing up these days.  :)

Why would your person be any different from other persons, they must pay for you somehow is a funny idea.   You know the answer already, if you leave the country then I guess its fine but if you use something in a society then it must be paid for or else could it be fair.
  Your question is why its best to have small government not giant governments that remove all personal choice, people end up feeling removed from the whole enterprise and merely victims of circumstance being born there etc.

If you do not pay taxes on your earnings you might face serious consequences from the government. It will depend on how much taxes that you have not paid. The government can impose fines and penalties on the individuals for failing to pay their taxes on time. This fines can be quite substantial and may even exceed the amount of taxes you owed. In my country taxes are automatically deducted to the salary if you are employed. But if you owned a business or you are self employed you file your own taxes based on the deadline each month that is scheduled by the Bureau. In other countries you might face criminal charges for tax evasion and this could result to fines a criminal record and even imprisonment. If you are a responsible citizen you will not tax evade to avoid more serious problem later on.

Let's start with a recognition of your primary concern: all those taxes must really hurt. Everything you earn, spend, or own is subject to taxation. When inflation is added to the mix, it's hard not to feel like you're being... picked on

However, let's consider the opposite side of the argument. Healthcare, education, security, and infrastructure could not function without the revenue generated by taxes. Therefore, tax avoidance may be seen as a breach of a social compact. Is he or she a "bad guy"? That's debatable, and it often has strong ties to individual values and cultural conventions

However, your discontent highlights a more systemic problem, maybe the need for extensive tax reform. A change to lighten the load on the middle class without jeopardizing the resources needed to run the government. Your inquiry is thought-provoking; it makes us reflect about the foundations of our societies and how they may be enhanced

There's nothing wrong in trying to find gaps in the law that tries to limit your freedom and rob you of your hard earned money.

That said, doing it blatantly is dumb. For instance, buying a house and saying you won't pay taxes for it is just dumb, but there are ways to avoid it. For instance many people decide to build houses that aren't permanently attached to the ground. In most countries if your house can be moved (with a crane or a bulldozer) and isn't put on permanent foundation, you don't have to file for permits to and pay taxes. It's treated in the same way like if you had a cabin, or a large trailer. I recommend this smart way of tax evasion.

Avoiding taxes is unethical & illegal as it undermines the funding of public services & infrastructure. Intentionally evading taxes is unfair to fellow citizens & detrimental to society as a whole. The perception of whether it makes someone a bad person is subjective as individual circumstances & motivations vary. It is important to remember that paying taxes is a civic duty & the legality & morality of tax avoidance should be considered when assessing the character of an individual.

If all was equal and correct in the world, everyone would be "sharing the burden" by paying their fair share of taxes. However we all know that the richer people get, the more they are able to engineer elaborate schemes to avoid paying tax. It's a very difficult question for that reason, the answer should be that the richer pay more tax and are properly policed to stop them doing jurisdiction shopping for their vast piles of money, relying on the places that make them pay small or sometimes even no taxes at all. However when you live in a developed society and things are functioning properly, those taxes should be going to things like roads/infrastructure/emergency services and other things.

Legally if we are avoiding taxes, we are a bad person since we are avoiding our responsibility to our country.  One proof that supports it is that the government can sue us of tax evasion and can be imprison because of that crime.

No matter what our reason for not paying taxes is, we cannot argue that we are committing a crime against our country.

You wont really be that dumb enough on not to see whether those taxes are really that been applied or been used on the right way or not.Cant really blame out if the citizens would really be losing out their trust

towards into their government because of that misuse of taxes or really that having a corrupt government on which there would be people who would really be that skeptical on paying up with their taxes and this is why its not really that shocking that there would be people who would really be trying out to evade but in the sense that we are talking about those money launderers then it isnt really that good anymore or something illegal which it is really just that right that they should be paying up taxes specially on smuggled goods, but since we are living in a world which it is corrupted then i cant really blame them out.

For the question something like this then it cant really be totally considered as a bad person, there would be some exemptions.There are really just that people who are really that mindful about doing actions
which is really that against the law but there are some exemptions basing up on the situation though.

Well, look, money is not really a moral thing is more a matter of politics. In essence taxes are a money the government takes from you and spends in something. Now, politics is deciding what that is. In civilized countries that means that some groups of people will receive more than others.

So, it is a question of deciding if you are ok giving your money to "the collective" or you are ok trying to not do so. Is it more moral to pay?

in my opinion, taxes are the worst way to support country economy, especially for country which has a lot of natural resources. my country has a lot of natural resources but still ask the people to pay taxes, government officials cannot manage the natural resources for development of country economy. a minister in my country said that if there is no corruption in my country then each citizen will get approximately $1300 every month without working. I think if your country really need it and the taxes improve public facilities then it is okay to pay tax, but if not then you better avoid taxes. actually big company always avoid to pay taxes too by manipulate the company accounting data.

You have a point on corruption, but with paying taxes, no matter what we don't like, it is still needed, even if your country has a lot of natural resources. First, how will the government get funds to process those minerals and taxes that are really used for the development of the country like subsidies, roads, buildings, etc.? That is where the problem starts, as the officials are getting corrupt, and they will then get the money that should be intended for the country.

Unfortunately, taxes are still important. You need to pay labor and materials to get these natural resources you mentioned and one of the most prominent ways to get these needed funds are from taxes. In the scenario that you have stated, I think it is more of an issue of the government rather than taxes. It is not taxes but the act of what happens once taxes are collected.

I agree, however, that big companies do avoid taxes but is that enough reason for everyone to do the same?

Yes, I agree to that and paying taxes is not a benchmark for whether we will be moral or not, and I don't even trust the government that the tax money I have given will be managed properly.
It all depends on myself and even if I can avoid taxes, I will continue to do so and I don't consider it a crime, in fact many people in government who commit fraud on the tax money they receive is a real crime.

This is never a cogent reason for one to evade tax. No matter how worse you think your country is, the government is trying to protect you and your property with external and internal forces, paying salaries, provision and maintenance of physical projects. Let not be selfish by not contributing our own little quota to the government coffer. Talking about mineral resources, government spend a huge amount of money for the extraction and processing of these mineral resources before it becomes finished product.

Corruption is present in every country in this world with just a slight difference and percentage. Tax evasion is also corruption and you're adding to the percentage of Corruption existed in your country. If you can not solve the problem, don't multiply the problem. Always pay your tax!

Even seeing those corrupt officials using our money and getting rich makes me want to evade taxes more, but again, law is law, and I don't have a choice but to pay tax. Let's hope that it will be managed well, even though deep inside of us it won't and will go to the wallets of those corrupt politicians. Also, we know right now that there are rich people who aren't paying taxes, which makes us wonder how they do it, and that is the most unfair part of why they are not paying taxes or only paying less taxes than us.

It's funny how something automatically becomes legal if it's the government that's doing it. If any other person was doing what the government was doing, they will be charged with fraud.
These people take taxpayers' money and mismanage the funds.

It's worst in developing countries. The government doesn't even care about the inflation eating deep into the economy, instead what they do is increase the VAT on almost everything. It's insane. The government gets away with a lot of things.
Imagine a person that pays taxes on everything still has to provide his security, electricity, and other things the government should be providing. What's more ridiculous is that you'll be committing a crime if you don't pay your taxes, despite not getting adequate help from the government.

Lets say you are evading tax on other means but if you are working on a government firm then for sure those salary of yours is already that automatically deducted and same goes when you are buying up something

like goods or services then you are still paying up tax into that on which it is really just that cant be avoided that you would really be the ones that paying up those taxes and its something that would be part of day to day living. There are really just some areas on which we do really tend to evade out on other means and as long it wont really be that traceable or would be known then someone would really be doing their best on not to be caught up. I agree that if we are really that been wary about government shitty management of these taxes would really be giving out that kind of impression on which you would really be mainly doing such option.

Its not really bad on general sense but we know on what taxes are and what are the main functions of it specifically on making a country do be developed.It is really just on the leaders who are really that behind of it.

Its impossible to avoid all taxes that I know of, direct income tax maybe but to defer or avoid tax is almost normal for a business owner as they take losses and can write off profits against those losses across some years.    You will always be paying some kind of indirect tax or intervention by government in otherwise normal market pricing, sometimes its subsidy but overall government levies some burden on business which is a cost passed onto you.   Hence I would argue people are always taxed, only the Amish could try to argue otherwise perhaps.

Its not bad if you managed to avoid taxes but still paying taxes goes to your government which benefit your country for developing more structures and program. But you're missing out if you're not paying taxes because there's a tax return that you can get and the more you pay taxes the more taxes return to you I don't know if you're country has this but in my country we're getting a tax return yearly which is a huge help because you're expecting a large sum of money every year.

Indeed, this situation is of course surprising because all items are sucked in and taxable, however, actually this is a global trend and it will be complicated if we relate it to the current situation of economic inequality.

Now, in several trading exchanges that already have trading operating permits from the government, tax items are also unavoidably included in it, for example, if users make crypto buying and selling transactions, transaction facilitation services (exchange) and transaction verification services (mining) whose value and they began to collect data and information needed by the authorities, one of which was the taxpayer number.

Yes. It seems that the government's role in terms of taxes is getting stricter, in particular, and it can't be avoided, I think.

The government of a country certainly digs up information on the income of its residents very keenly to be taxable, that is a normal thing but I think if we trade or invest in crypto or have a lot of income from crypto trading that will definitely be taxed (if known) maybe we can still avoid it, now it's all back to each other, whether we comply with tax regulations or violate them.

As the Op asked, are we among the bad guys if we manage to avoid taxes, and personally I don't think so.

If we see it on the eyes of the law, tax evasion is a serious crime and anyone caught doing that will be punishable by the law. Although in reality paying high taxes may be unfair especially for those who are breadwinners and yet only receiving minimum wage amount, but since we are under the government so we should always abide with the rules and not to disobey it and create our own set of rules. So by deliberately avoiding paying the tax, I believe it will automatically make us the bad persons in the society.

There's always happen an export and import and we called this trading those items before get transferred to the particular place there's already a tax given into it so when you came from the store the things you would like to buy already have a taxes so in that case you cant avoid the tax, unless you will go through the main branch of the item you would like and buy this into them so you don't get too much tax value because there's no transport happen but this is hassle right, reason why you are paying is for the convenience. AFAIK large properties have taxes too and there's a way to prevent this by helping to the community.

You are right, if we take action to avoid taxes, then we can be said to be people who have violated the rules set by the government, but if they have paid taxes and they are people who have a minimum income as you say, then it can be said that they have a sense of responsibility as a good citizen. I think those who deliberately evade taxes are those who have no responsibility to themselves.

Your concern about evasion in certain areas, and also the concern about the government's, um, "shitty management" is duly noted, certainly.

However, one must, perhaps, consider the fact that - taxes are, at their core, not always so much something that can be, let's say, categorized as good or bad. As for your comments on the leaders being behind it, yes, but what if the leaders were actually ahead of it? Would that change the way things... happen? In general, it really is something to think about, this whole tax thing, you know?

Yes, not paying taxes is illegal. If people do not pay taxes, the government's stability would be compromised. Let's not forget that taxes are the lifeblood of a country. We must acknowledge the reality that as employees, we cannot avoid paying taxes, as our income is readily visible and declared by our employers. Although everyone is required to pay taxes, business owners have a more advantageous position than employees. They can manipulate their financial records, avoiding detection for tax evasion, as long as they understand how to navigate the system.

In accounting principles, there's a concept known as tax avoidance, which is legal and mainly benefits companies, rather than employees.

---

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/tax_avoidance.asp

You can choose to think about it as being a bad or good person...and it won't help you. But think of it this way, when you pay your taxes, that money that the government gets as part of its revenue streams goes to helping the less privileged in the education, health sectors and generally also helps in building of infrastructure to beautify our cities and what not...it might look like you aren't a beneficiary in this, but trust me you do benefit one way or another!!

The ugly side of the law that doesn't care about one's reasons for not contributing to its tax revenue!

In general, tax evasion is illegal and unethical. We may question why are mandated to Contribute to society with our own hard-earned money. Paying taxes is vital as it helps fund public services and infrastructure. While it may be tempting to avoid taxes, it is not a responsible or fair practice. To lessen the burden, there are what we call tax minimization strategies which are legal and allowable.

There is a fine line between tax evasion and tax minimization. Tax evasion is illegal and may charge corresponding fines and even imprisonment. While tax minimization is legal and can be done to take advantage of deductions and credits to reduce the amount of taxes owed. With this, you can stay on the right side of the law while maximizing your tax savings.

Here in our country, we can lessen our tax through charitable donations, applying dependents, and listing all the itemized deductions. You can also work with a qualified tax professional to determine the best strategies for your situation.

Talking about taxes is indeed a dilemma, on the one hand taxes are for the development of the country, but on the other hand there are people who use them for personal gain, such as corruption. not paying taxes, complicating our problems and of course breaking the law. So do not be surprised if in my country there are so many people who avoid taxes. Most people in my country who are on a moderate income want to look rich, while the really rich want to look poor to avoid taxes.

The tax order is actually not a difficult thing, even if the tax for the rich is up to 35%, if the tax is really used for the benefit of the state, it's just that why do people lack discipline in paying taxes because they are worried that it will be used to enrich tax officers not for the benefit of country. I think this should be fixed in every country for taxes to be used in the right way to develop the country.

Your comment has a very important and true point, governments instead of worrying about solving the salary problem and the excessive increase in inflation to create a balance, they prefer to deal with something else.. such as finishing screwing over the people, increasing the taxes even knowing that what each citizen earns is not enough, that is the kind of rulers that you have in most countries, especially in Latin America, and it is really because of this type of situation that people see themselves forced to carry out these types of acts, it is known that taxes help with the economy of a country, but if in reality these go to the clutches of thieves, i doubt very much that something is being contributed, so i think it is difficult to judge When a person is forced to do that kind of thing, it may be a crime, but i don't consider it that serious, as long as the circumstances warrant it

Government for sure heard what people wanted, like an increase in salary or the minimum wage, but government doesn't give a damn on this as they prefer those businesses are in a good situation. Those employees want an increase, and the business owners will say they can't cope, and after that, government will say that it is difficult as business owners will go bankrupt, meaning they can pay taxes, even though the economy is starting to be good. Right now, it is better to do it on your own, like find multiple jobs or a side hustle, so that you can still cope with the inflation.

if everyone evaded taxes, then the state would have difficulty with financial resources and basic services such as health, education and security could be seriously affected.

That is why we need proper consideration and control in tax setting and administration. Too high a tax increase or too wide a tax range can cause inequality or affect the economic situation. This requires wisdom and smart intervention to maintain balance in the tax system.

And yes, the electoral process and the accountability of government and officials play an important role. Transparency and compliance with the law in financial and tax management are extremely important.

I don't how you're going to avoid all of your taxes, but you'll get exposed soon and you won't like what's waiting for you.

Avoiding your taxes isn't the solution to battle inflation, you might save some money but you're still going to spend it on buying the things you need and wants and that's still consider as paying taxes. But to answer the your question, yes, you're a bad person if you're avoiding some of your taxes, whether it's every month or every year.

This must be the problem with avoiding taxes, it is not just a moral question to be asked, and even though that plays a part in this, it's also a financially bad decision as well. If you avoid paying taxes and then you are caught avoiding it, then you are going to end up being punished a lot harder. In my nation, it is 300% of what you owe as a punishment, so let's assume that you avoided 10k dollars of taxes, and you didn't pay it, and you went about your day like nothing happened, if they ever catch you, then you need to pay 30k dollars instead.

That's not a smart decision, I would rather pay the tax and avoid any punishment and just be done with it. I would have to be in a life or death situation to avoid it, not for moral reasons, but because I rather not have the punishment.

Whether it is called tax evading or a synchronized name, people are suffering and the government need to do something about it or else things are going to get lost. I don't even blame anybody when they don't pay there task at any extend becau6tge government are really eating us up gradually and no one is talking about it.

 The government will give you money and collect it back without you knowing times 5 and when you don't give it to them, they will come after you that you are evading tax with bigger consequences. When we talk about tax, there are some part of Europe that will keep frustrating you to pay tax when you add earning less or not. I see the tax system as a way to get funds back to the government without deliberately forcing you. When you don't pay , you can be prosecuted in the most absurd way.

Government may even do more than that lets take North Korea for the example so if you think the whole system is wrong the giving efforts to make a change is the right thing to do instead of compelling not to pay. There is no disagreement with the fact that governments designed the tax system favorable for rich but atleast they can make it near to fair if people can make them to do it.

In my country almost all transactions must pay taxes, even the government is making rules for small restaurant businesses with a turnover of just under $ 20k then you have to pay taxes, officers are always active around places or shops on the side of the road and give rules if you avoid tax will be applied fines up to prison.

I don't know, here in my country where everything is also same as you said. Everything has taxes, they would like to put any transactions as possible to apply taxes, so what could be the reason? Of course, corruption. With those taxes, lot of taxes they could easily rob fund of the country for their own comfort. Evading tax is literally could get you to jail, but if you are doing it like in the crypto, they can't arrest you for it since crypto is decentralized and not controlled by the government. I think this would only apply to any businesses especially the big one that are not registered plus doesn't contributing tax for the country. And some people could also evade tax from their own salary especially if you are in the higher position since you have the power to manipulate things that could evade taxes. So they can have their full income with the deduction of taxes which is actually huge if you salary income is high.

You will still be taxed for the things you buy but that's just it. I think it also varies to the crypto regulation of your government. Most countries follow what the US is doing and the one that is somehow obvious is that if the SEC of your country considers crypto to be securities, then you'll be taxed. The US SEC as far as I know already suggests the tokens we earned from staking may also be taxed.

So thats something that is worrisome. What the US government will do may also be implemented in our country.

I am in Southeast Asia and I think our countries have the same model when it comes to taxes. Employees who are working for registered companies here do not have a choice but to pay their taxes, as it has already been deducted from their salary before they even receive it. Then, when you buy anything, you'll have to pay for VAT again. You also have to pay taxes for your assets.

I guess freelancers can easily avoid paying income taxes. When my friend left her regular job and opted to work remotely for an international company based in the US, she received the full amount of her salary (without tax deductions). It's now up to her if she will file her taxes or she can just not declare it. Legally speaking, she has to do it because it'll be a crime if she doesn't, but she can also easily avoid paying since the company is not a registered entity here in our country. This may be a good example of how one is able to avoid paying taxes.

If you're feeling wronged due to the amount of taxes that the government is taking from you, your feeling is valid. It can really be frustrating. However, you must think long term. In our case, it'll also be us who'll suffer in the future if we don't file our taxes accordingly. The Certification for Income Tax Withheld comes a long way because it is a requirement for a lot of things - when you want to get a VISA, when you want to apply for a bank loan, when you want to get a new house, or even for a phone plan.

I won't say that you're a bad person if you manage to avoid your taxes, but it'll have a bad implication for you in the future.

Whatever we do that is against the law of our country, that is building a bad character for us. No need to question it, because anyone that is trying to avoid the law will definitely be put in a position of illegal citizen. Much more if you are doing tax evasion. That is a serious offense and anyone who will be proven guilty for that will receive its proper sanction and might be subject for imprisonment if not resolved early. Whatever your intention of doing that, as long as you live under a country’s provision, you are obliged to follow, not to break its law.

Having business is in levels, we have a standard business and a small scale enterprise which are under developing business startups, if your business is established, registered and licensed then paying tax shouldn't be a burden as long as the business remains operational, however, there are some small medium scales and menial jobs we could do through our services without being taxed because they are what we do out of acquired skills and are added advantage to us.

Certainly you are. Why would a good person do that? Once you become a legal resident of a country, you should know when to respect and follow rules and laws. And by simply avoiding paying your tax, just because you feel that you are being taken advantage and you are robbed off from your own hard-earned money, I believe the state will automatically see you as the worst character because instead of helping for the welfare of the country and its citizens, you chose to break it and make your own law instead.

And getting exposed comes with a lot of penalties, the offender will be charged to court and since his guilty he will have to pay and face the penalty and am still wondering how people escape taxes, I support the statement of not paying tax and feels it can help against inflation is a big lie and we should all do what is right, which paying our tax, since the money is supposed to be used for our own benefits and you can speak confidently any were about your full compliance of paying tax, I agree with everything you say not paying tax is actually a very bad habit and I think there should a kind of enforcement for people that don't pay. So that other will learn from that.

Well, it honestly depends on what your definition of good is. Perhaps what he did is unlawful but is it necessarily bad if he was able to avoid it because the government was not being secured enough or smart enough with their system to detect who pays taxes and who doesn't? Is being selfish necessarily bad? If he chooses to keep his/her money rather than contribute it to the welfare of the country? See, OP used the term good which does not have a precise definition. Is his/her actions bad or it is the outcome of his/her action that makes OP bad? Well, of course, that is all philosophical and ethical talk. I guess the more proper term to state is unlawful. It is unlawful and selfish if OP avoids paying taxes.

Even if it does have something to do with you, no one will arrest or victimize you for saying your mind 😆.

It's really a sad situation because it's purely over taxation. It's not just an European thing alone. It's ubiquitous with every government of the world. Anything to generate revenue gives them orgasm. Europe and the other saner continents are even lucky they get to feel what the revenue from the taxes they pay do for them. It's the reverse in Africa where most political leaders are purely in government to steal from their people. I wouldn't feel bad not paying tax at all. What for? When I know there are crooks waiting at the end of the line for my money so they can embezzle it.

Everyone pays taxes whether they like it or not through indirect taxation on goods and services. If government depends solely on income tax, it will lose big time because not everyone can be taxed that way.

I guess there are two ways to avoid taxes. One is finding totally legal loopholes - which must be hard and only someone professional can do it. I don't think this is unethical honestly. If you follow legit ways its acceptable. But other is definitely illegal. I personally don't find it ethical. I always think about people that avoid taxes and feel like "why do I pay meanwhile they don't". But if everyone think similarly noone would pay taxes. We should not commit crimes so.

Why do you open this thread to ask the opinions? Are you feeling bad about it too? If you feel bad about it, then do you expect us to think otherwise and give you the priviledge of doubts? Btw I know deep inside you, you are feeling uneasy, it is also the reason you feel compelled to open a thread like this. This is satrical reply.

It's actually not that bad if you can evade it legally, I know it's not something that is frequently talked in the society today because it is our responsibility as a citizen to pay taxes but in line with the topic, you'll be surprised that most billionaires and other rich individuals are even getting away with it without having any problems because as I said, they have done it in a legal way. Well, not evading wholly because they are still paying a big sum annually (food, clothes, wants and other needs that are also taxed beforehand are not included) but not as big if they are not having some techniques to evade some of their taxes legally.

In our own eyes, not really. But in the eyes of the law, you are certainly a bad person because you enjoy all your country’s provisions and yet you refuse to pay your taxes in return. It could be very unfair for those who pay their taxes well. However, I can’t blame those who want to evade paying tax because we have different financial situations on hand. But as much as possible, if you don’t want to be the government eyeing on you, then it’s better to just do our duties and responsibilities as a bonafide citizen.

Avoiding taxes will only be a time bomb, as if we are hiding what we have, and what we are fighting against is the state, where the government can do anything to us, including blocking assets. but if we can avoid it legally maybe this will be a different story, considering that taxes also aim to build a country, even though many people are disappointed with the person, but the country's large income comes from taxes, and of course we as good citizens must obey against government regulations

No matter how mad you are at the government, you will still end up having to pay it in the future. I did have a coworker before that got laid off and found an online job, and he didn't update his tax info and didn't pay his taxes. Later on, when he found a job in an office, it required them to have a record in the tax department, and he was shocked as it was very huge, and he had no choice but to pay it off until now because if not, he couldn't start on his work. No matter how you evade it, it will still keep coming back to you, and you'll end up paying it.

Yes, the person is a bad person according to our law which it can lead that person to spend some months in the prison, because that is the sources of the government income in every countries in the world. I don't think, is all government that used the taxes income to finance their family or their personal business, because there is a law that governed that aspect and if any administration found guilty of corruption in that area they will be punish for such attitude, because the taxes income belong to the people in that land which we called government. If you fail to pay your taxes as a citizen, I think it will be difficult for you to enjoy the benefits of your country because you will not have full right to enter some places in the country.

Avoiding taxes doesn't make you a bad person op and everyone feels that way, but very few have the balls to openly speak about it. This tax crap primarily affects the middle class when compared to other classes.

First world countries at the very least provide proper returns for your taxes while third world countries provide negligible returns for your taxes making their governments a whole lot worse.

As they say, nothing can be certain except for death and taxes.

Are you that foolish to think laws and governments work perfectly? You stated textbook and idealized concepts, but reality can and often is very different. Laws are cultural structures produced by authority, and power can manipulate them.

You cite corrupt administration penalty, but how often has justice been served? Bureaucracy and red tape protect powerful people. Thus, although a common man pays taxes and fears the consequences of evasion, those with power and influence may bend the rules to their whim.

And that not paying taxes deprives the government of a benefit? Please note that benefits are typically taken before they reach the public. In a dog-eat-dog world, your idealistic beliefs are wonderful but tragically foolish.

This is really true. I came from a developing country but our system is very corrupt from the top to the bottom. No wonder other countries are bypassing us already in terms of development and progress.

I have already forgotten most of the taxation lessons during my college days but it is very clear that the middle class or the working class are the ones paying high taxes. Companies and corporations have many strategies and benefits for tax avoidance. Rich people in my country can even register dummy businesses here and then put all the expenses to make the regular report without a net income which means no tax to pay.

Avoiding  taxes can tag one as a bad person for the reason that it is illegal to do that and can have serious consequences.

In as much as the economy is not stable and depending on one's salaries to pay taxes it's important to fulfill our civic duties and contribute to the economic growth of the society.

In my personal opinion, avoiding taxes is not an illegal act and most people consider this method legal in the eyes of the law. Because in essence we are taking advantage of the loopholes in the rules that exist in the law, but if we practice this method it will have an impact on the income of a country, of course. Although on the other hand, we as tax payers face difficulties in terms of size.

This happens in almost all countries, the large amount of tax deductions greatly affects the income of individuals and business groups, such as companies. But whatever it is, as long as it doesn't violate I think it's legal to use.

Don't be like that, I think we all also can't blame Sebas.tian for having such a perception and expressing an opinion like that because what he said was actually what should have happened, right?.
But ironically, I more agree with what you said, because what you said is the reality that occurs in almost all over the world, it is true that the system of law and government is not always perfect and not always really run according to the rules they make. Anywhere, the system of laws and regulations may be subject to and can be manipulated by a group of people in power.

Yes, you are right, if we take advantage of loopholes in the law to avoid taxes, it will certainly affect state revenues. As you said, on the other hand, paying taxes also burdens us to meet our needs. In my opinion, if we can't afford to pay taxes, it would be better for us to take advantage of loopholes in the law by not paying them so that we don't burden ourselves and don't violate applicable laws.

But how? I noticed that rich people can take advantage of it, and I don't see any action from the government, mostly because they are just blind to it,  unless they see hard proof that they are earning some huge amount, like in sports, when ever someone wins a fight or game, the tax department will then say in your face to pay off the taxes based on your winnings but not based on your net worth. We poor and middle-class people don't have a choice but to pay it off, or else we will have a huge problem later on if we don't.

Well, if we talk about the laws of a country, then evading taxes is a bad thing, but for some personal, it might not be a bad thing.
We feel how to manage the money we have, or the business transactions and profits we have. Some people sometimes still need the money to run their business in order to stay on a fairly profitable track. at a time like that, he is required to pay taxes, and the choice is whether he loses or not. So, a lot of people are trying to avoid taxes for a while until things normalize. that is reasonable in my opinion. However, according to the law, that is something wrong. It all depends on how one reacts to it.

Notice how marcous use the word "avoid" and associated it with "legal". This is what's commonly known as tax avoidance which is different from of tax evasion. The former is legal while the latter is not. One thing I don't agree with what he said is the taking advantage of the "loopholes". That is not necessarily the case since Governments intentionally allows these tax incentives to encourage growth in the business sector. More businesses means higher employment and that also means more income taxes that can be collected from the middle class.

It's not about being blind.

Yes but you need resources to access valuable resources. What you brought up as an example here is typical for that. A billionaire can consult the best tax lawyers and strategists to save tons of money on top of the tons of money he is earning anyway. The average person doesn't have the money to pay for those who would be best to save them any money. This is also a reason why the rich get richer. To set up corporate structures and apply other tricks to legally save money, actually costs a lot of money, but for rich people the spending is relatively low in relation to their income. That is where average people get stuck as they can't spend the needed relative share of their income to then save part of their income from being taxed.

The question whether it makes you a bad person is up to you, but imagine everyone would avoid taxes to a degree that the infrastructure you also use suffers so hard from shortcomings in tax spending that you can't use the streets anymore or don't get an appointment with a doctor because there are no doctors anymore.

the purpose of paying taxes to citizens in each country is so that people can contribute to infrastructure and social development in that country but when what is obtained is not in accordance with our expectations which are always obedient to pay then there is no point in us paying taxes, presidential candidate Argentina says that taxes are robbery and that has been instilled for a long time by government officials, so you are not a criminal when you don't pay taxes, it's just an ethical issue because the social gap between the taxpayer and those who don't pay taxes is clearly visible.

You have to ask yourself first where those taxes go, if you see improvements in public transportation, infrastructures, energy, health and education and other aspects that the government has a say then you're a bad guy in that situation especially if you are a big business but if you know that it's not going anywhere besides lining the pockets of the corrupt politicians then I suppose tax evade away to your heart's content. Those are the only things that I believe should be your guidelines whether you're doing it right because in a way taxes are someone's payment to be in that country.

Taxes are there for a certain reason and we cannot evade it no matter what we do because it's for our own good. I mean, how can we keep our economy growing and blooming if we are evading from it or against it? It may or may not sound reasonable to some people that are living in other countries where they have some particular law about taxes but whether we like it or not, it is what keeping the country strong and firm.

We must review the level of improvement in public services from the use of tax funds in the previous year, if the government is mandated to carry out functions to help all the needs of the community from the use of taxes then we are considered bad people because we do not contribute to the state. However, the fact is that the government manages taxes at will in order to achieve personal welfare and does not prioritize the needs of the community, the government only facilitates the needs of urban development but the poor are not paid attention to, the level of corruption is increasingly being carried out by qualified officials, corruptors are punished with the lightest punishment even though they have harmed the state and received bonuses remission every year, corruptors get special facilities in prison and are free to leave prison for holidays abroad. So everyone will hesitate to pay taxes if in order to enrich officials, it is better for us to provide taxes to the poor without the help of the government's hand, they may not necessarily realize the use of taxes according to their provisions and functions.

Even though we will not be poor to pay taxes, and if we care about our own country, there is nothing wrong with us paying taxes, because it is mandatory, especially for those who have income every month.
and the purpose of the tax that is given to the state treasury will be used for the welfare and prosperity of the people of the country itself, and unknowingly the benefits will be felt by all citizens. And if your name is registered as a taxpayer, and you haven't paid your taxes in a long time, maybe the tax man will come to collect you for the time you've been delinquent. And if your name isn't registered, I don't think it matters if you're evading taxes.

You've just inflated what my point is but thank you for the "much needed" elaboration.

The ideal tax regime is that companies pay taxes, with their 6 year business cycle and the ability to carry over losses over multiple years to cover profits from another year.  It makes alot more sense to tax a company with limited liability and better access to credit then people who may struggle under the burden of overly large government regimes.  Inflation is destructive no doubt about it, thats a tax and all the other kind of taxes more regularly levied are also some impediment to business.  Sales tax discourages retail in that particular state and the very rich quite obviously do shop abroad for their most expensive goods, where as the poorest workers of any country are bound to pay their full share of tax always.
  There is no perfect system but the idea is a company pays for its access to an economy and its population and in turn the people are still paying a section of tax every time they use that company.  Some of the product cost is a section of that tax paid to the country all 3 entities operate in, its far fairer imo.
  The consequences of this idea are strong borders, you protect who has free access and sale of goods.  That means instead of chasing down people for tax you have the task of regulating the borders and goods, this is the traditional goods and excise taxation regime.  Definitely possible but rare in the modern day for some reason, where as rich people with access to multiple countries can easily defer any tax due and thats the history of how some are rich and stay that way going back a century or more of the modern system of democracy and capitalism.

Counter question (also hypothetical).
Is your government bad if it steals public money and actually spends your money from taxes that you pay on your salary, taxes on the purchase of goods and services, taxes paid by sellers of goods and services that you buy, distributors, and so on for personal needs? Instead of using this money for the benefit of society (taxpayers), these officials spend on luxury for themselves. There are a number of countries in which this is exactly what happens, therefore, the question of whether it is a bad act not to pay taxes remains open and will depend on the internal moral attitudes of a particular taxpayer. Also, external factors (environment in a particular country - the presence or absence of corruption) will incline the decision to one side or the other. In some parts of the world it is more expensive for yourself to be a respectable taxpayer.

The question is what taxes are used for. What the government spends them on.
Of course, it is implied that teachers, doctors and internal affairs bodies (police) receive salaries from taxes. After all, these areas do not have, or have a weak payback (paid services in medical wards, or paid training courses in schools). But the question is, how much of the taxes goes into the pocket of officials? They don't produce anything either, but their salaries are huge. And of course it's at our expense.

Therefore, I do not consider someone who does not want to pay taxes to be a bad person. We are us and this is our life, nobody will help us except ourselves, which means it's okay if someone has a desire not to pay taxes.

Many people think that avoiding taxes is an inappropriate criminal act, but in my opinion the tax that we pay certainly must be proportional, the facts in my country that business tax, income and so on are very burdensome so that many businesses are made to avoid taxes. And in my opinion as long as we have the right reason to avoid taxes, this is certainly not a problem.

The rich have ways to legally avoid taxes, in my country, what they do is they're making their own charities and they donate money to their own charities. This is like a glitch that many are aware of but legally, it's allowed by law. I don't know if these capitalists were able to buy some lawmakers that have made this law in favor of them. While the minimum age earners, there's tax exemption but in goods that we consume, there's vat. In countries where you can see the services being used by people, I don't think someone will flee from tax avoidance.

My friend, it's all about the money. Always has been, always will be. Businesses, particularly the major players, should contribute fairly. They reap the most rewards from the system, aren't they? They use our roads, our infrastructure, our people. to charge them? The least we can do is that. You mention how the wealthy travel abroad to shop, but guess what? They understand how to play a rigged game

Now, what about the concept of secure borders to control products and services? That's music to my ears. Keep the borders closed and monitor who enters and leaves. However, concentrating only on the borders won't do. Rich people have been evading taxes for a very long time, and it's time that stopped

Bitcoin? There is now a currency that these so-called 'elites' cannot influence. Decentralized, open, and inflation-resistant. The future, if you ask me

I don't think so about tax evasion, if we choose to avoid taxes and have a reasonable reason and don't break the law I don't think it's a problem, because there are some people who have a lot of wealth and they don't pay taxes I think they are what people deserve to be called legally evil.

In each country the government has to pay taxes to the people according to the specific law which varies from country to country. you must pay taxes as directed by the government as it will help the country to develop. If you avoid taxes, you may grow financially but your country will suffer. So for you it is not considered good if your country is harmed it must be a bad thing. But at the end of every financial year people evade taxes by adopting different methods, it is not new and not unusual.  But in my opinion it is not right to do so and it is also a crime in terms of law

It's never a bad thing if you can manage to legally avoid paying taxes though the utilization of an LLC and tax write offs. If you become the master of the tax codes and maximize those write off I don't believe that this is a crime. The real crime is the taxation!!! And unfortunately the taxpayer money is usually spent in the most irresponsible way that has no benefit to the people actually forking over the dough.

Well, it's true that when you actually have a right reason to do something even if what you are about to do is bad, you are not wrong. So in the case of paying taxes, it totally depends on the government of the country and how the law and order of the country. If there are strict laws and government officials are not corrupt to the core and don't use tax money for personal purposes, in such a country, you shouldn't avoid paying taxes as the taxes will be used for good causes.

On the other hand, when a country is full of corrupt people, politicians are all corrupt to their core and you know that the money you are going to pay in taxes will be divided and eaten by those politicians instead of using it for the betterment and development of the country, you better not pay them.

in the eyes of the law, avoiding taxes will make you a bad person, if it's in a organized country. but if it's in a country were government can not provide anything to the citizens, avoiding taxes can not make you a bad person. because government is not providing anything to you.

the same thing happened to my country where the government is not clean there is always corruption which makes people antipathy with the payment of taxes required by the government. actually with taxes we will also be able to build the country and return it to those of us who enjoy it as a society. however, with a government that is not strict with the law for corruptors and even gets facilities in prison, it creates a lack of people's trust, therefore there must be continuity from the government and society

I don't think one can easily escape from paying tax. You may think you aren't paying taking because you are not paying directly to your government but you will definitely be paying some indirect tax may be on purchase goods.

Avoiding not paying taxes will always be a problem even if you have reasons for this, because the most appropriate thing for small and medium business actors to do is to hold a discussion or some kind of protest to the government so that the government can find ways to change the policy. so as not to burden their own people. Because taxes are things that really have to be paid for developments that don't yet exist in a country.

Avoiding any law that has been in effect in a country is actually a mistake, because if there really are irregularities or something that can burden the people in terms of paying taxes, of course the people must also offer a better solution to the government so that the government can make a decision. analysis or research on the solutions offered by the people themselves. Because avoiding anything will never solve the problem and can even add to the problem because you are deliberately avoiding not paying for it.