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

[alastantiger]

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.

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/

[iv4n]

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.
...

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 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.

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".

[darkangel11]

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.

[GigaBit]

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.

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.

[Yatsan]

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.

[Mate2237]

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.

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.

[BIT-BENDER]

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.

[uneng]

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.

[famososMuertos]

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.

[Fivestar4everMVP]

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.

[xSkylarx]

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

[mich]

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.

[Lorence.xD]

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

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.

[irhact]

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.

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.

[Lucius]

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.

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.

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.

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.

[Patrol69]

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.

[Sayeds56]

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.

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.

[khiholangkang]

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.

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.

[inthelongrun]

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. 

[Mauser]

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.

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.