Here in the UK, we have multiple schemes that lead to Tax Avoidance. They are specially aimed for wealthy people and bigger businesses who might be making extra income, so instead of storing it in banks, government wants them to take risky projects onboard to keep the system going.
With so much going on in the news these days regards this topic, individuals like me feel the need to ask , is it morally wrong to avoid tax? if it is , why is it considered legal? There is a big difference in Tax evasion and Tax avoidance. If someone is able to avoid tax within legal means, why is he/she being wrong?
Considering the popularity of religion in govt it is a wonder why a thread on tax evasion has not been opened. Also it is common to come across comments such as -" it is the weekend. So time reserved for family. Will reply in detail during the week".
Is this not equivalent to robbery? Maybe tax evasion and surfing on the job should be topics for Religion forum where morality is of the highest priority.
As for tax avoidance thru legal means that is tough. Close them loopholes.
Yeah I agree that the government should close loopholes but it seems that they are not willing to. They still believe the Tax avoidance schemes they have in place have a certain purpose and the rich should continue to dish out the extra money into those schemes that will eventually give them tax avoidance opportunities.
Yet there is an uproar here in the UK that people who are doing this are absolutely and morally wrong ! two very contradicting stances here .
I particularly dont understand the benefit of this particular scheme , where, a businessman who have strong financial resources is expected to take a risk and invest in a high risk project .. if he is able to make a profit out of it, he wont have to pay any tax on the profit
you guys think that is a right way of asking businesses with money, to conduct themselves?
he will still have to pay profit. But not high enough.
And yes this is morally wrong but happens all over the world. Contractual employees work throughout the world and pay lesser taxes by legalizing their business expanses and all.
So when the owners of a company pay lesser taxes by taking benefit of the expenses schemes, coz that could lead to them paying lesser tax , is that morally wrong too?
I feel that shouldnt be classed as tax avoidance all together specially for smaller businesses or self employed professionals who have LLC companies.
Tax avoidance can be classed "evasive " when large businesses make loads of profit without paying tax on it .. no?
Anything which is legally correct is also morally correct.. As far as taxation is concerned. Everyone has a right to use legally correct ways to minimise tax liabilities.
Umer and Yazdi , absolutely agreed .. but lets face it, large businesses use legal tax avoidance techniques to make loads of money. Those tax avoidance techniques are actually made legal so smaller or medium sized businesses can get a relief. but when a large business takes huge benefits out of it , its classed as legal yet morally wrong , I think thats what the uproar is all about here in the UK ..
I still feel large companies shouldnt be allowed to get away with this so easily ..
I still feel large companies shouldnt be allowed to get away with this so easily ..
I agree with that statement. But is it the job of those large companies to create the legal framework for that? No it's not. It's the government's job.
completely agreed, the government should be taking a strict stance on it .. they have left loopholes open intentionally .. the other day one of the executives from a large international Conglomerate was invited in a TV programme and someone asked him the same question that if your business invests in failed governmetn projects and as a shrewd business you are able to turn the failed project into a success story , making good amount of money, shouldnt you pay the taxes rather then saying we are within our legal right to use tax avoidance methods..
He said, we are not obliged to pay a single penny in tax because we did take a huge risk by investing in a failed project. Its the same like someone decides to throw away their broken furniture. We take it, repair it and invest in it and then resell it , every penny belongs to us !
As a viewer I disagreed with it, coz when I work, its me who is trying to find me a job, working hard long hours, paying for my fuel costs, living costs, road taxes etc and yet I pay my tax out of moral responsibility .. so if I as an individual pay my taxes out of my hard earned money, so should the large businesses even if they have made that money off a failed project ! at the end of the day , they have made money !
I pay taxes even on the bonus I get for good performance .. its the same thing isnt it?
Southie, agreed regards the system favouring big businesses ..
On the “programme” bit , sorry its a american english v/s british english thing, I believe .. so yeah, I am a brit , I shall uphold the British spellings :mirch:
Even though I’m European, ie geographically closer to Britan, I think the American way of spelling words makes more sense than the British one. For the majority of words at least. Sorry for going
Umer, perhaps it does, but we have to remember English is originally the language of the Brits .. all other versions are, varied other forms of English language adopted by the various countries ..
specially for smaller businesses or self employed professionals who have LLC companies.