There are many methods of tax avoidance. The classy ones require accountants. The clumsy ones just require that you cheat in some way. Then there are the ones in which the government of your choice colludes by encouraging and/or agreeing to community demands for tax cuts. All of these can mean the community at large can be deprived of necessary resources for the administration of a stable and free community.No more evidence is needed than the recent outfall of Hurricane Katrina in the USA which highlighted, under a President who is on the record as saying he likes to help the rich with tax cuts, the cuts to funding for FEMA and national infrastructure and the reallocation of resources to an ongoing, no light at the end of the tunnel war in Iraq.
People can't have it both ways. Insufficient resources and deflection of resources to wars, looking after the rich, and engrandizing legislators and bureaucrats does not advance our society one iota. Fewer resources and misallocation of what there is means poorer medical care, mediocre law enforcement, deprived schools. It can mean that necessary work best done and directed by government cannot be done. The levees won't be built, the water systems of the nation won't be protected and rehabilitated, the human resources and state of the art equipment won't be there to fight the bushfires.
KPMG, one of the world's largest accountancy firms, has recently agreed to a settlement of $465 million after having admitted to selling ‘unlawful’ tax avoidance schemes which deprived the US public of billions of dollars. This could have built a levee or three in New Orleans or at least enabled FEMA to provide adequate assistance to the victims of Katrina.
But the tax avoidance industry involves many financial services companies and has become deeply embedded in the global political economy. For more on the effects of tax avoidance, hop over to the Christian Aid site and download their report The shirts off their backs: How tax policies fleece the poor. While your considering this topic, hop over to the tax justice network. And then think twice - no, once will do - before demanding tax cuts upon tax cuts from politicians happy to bribe you.
