Am I a bad person if I manage to avoid taxes? (Hypothetical question)

[Hamphser]

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.

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. 

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.

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[Wiwo]

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.

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.

[ChiBitCTy]

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.

[goaldigger]

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.

[flyingcarpet]

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.

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.

[romero121]

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.

[AmoreJaz]

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.

[komisariatku]

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.

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

[rat03gopoh]

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.

[xSkylarx]

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.

[lienfaye]

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.

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.

[tabas]

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.

[Darker45]

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.

[Oasisman]

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.

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.

[Wexnident]

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.

[Poker Player]

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.

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.

[Iroh]

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.

[Kakmakr]

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)

[Oshosondy]

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.

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.

[Strongkored]

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.