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For nth time can we please stop talking about 'tax-avoiding' as if it's something we should not do? Every sensible individual so arranges their affairs so as to
by vixen99 10y ago
For nth time can we please stop talking about 'tax-avoiding' as if it's something we should not do? Every sensible individual so arranges their affairs so as to avoid tax as much as possible within the law. Governments of whatever stripe set the tax rules. We citizens obey. Government is always free to change the rules to suit its tax raising objectives. Tax evasion is of course illegal.
As UK Judge Lord Clyde stated 'No man in the country is under the smallest obligation, moral or other, so to arrange his legal relations to his business or property as to enable the Inland Revenue to put the largest possible shovel in his stores. The Inland Revenue is not slow, and quite rightly, to take every advantage which is open to it under the Taxing Statutes for the purposes of depleting the taxpayer's pocket. And the taxpayer is in like manner entitled to be astute to prevent, so far as he honestly can, the depletion of his means by the Inland Revenue'
- adwhit 10y agoCan I lobby the government to change the law to lower my tax bill? No, I'm not wealthy enough. Top marginal income tax rates in the UK during the 60s were 98%.
- todd8 10y agoThe top marginal rates don't reflect what is actually paid in taxes. The tax laws are complex, very complex for high income people. Although the top marginal rates for individuals has come down dramatically from the highs of decades ago in the USA, the actual tax paid as a percentage of total income has gone up in the US for the top 10%. The USA has a very progressive tax system. The top 20% of earners in the USA make 51% of total US income(2014) and pay 84% of total US income tax. This data is pretty easy to find: OECD publications, see [1], WSJ see [2] [1] http://darp.lse.ac.uk/resources/books/GrowingUnequal_OECD.pdf http://darp.lse.ac.uk/resources/books/GrowingUnequal_OECD.pd... [2] http://www.wsj.com/articles/top-20-of-earners-pay-84-of-income-tax-1428674384 http://www.wsj.com/articles/top-20-of-earners-pay-84-of-inco...
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]