"When questioned on tax avoidance in general, 24 per cent of respondents said they did not think it was immoral, just good business sense. Three-quarters of respondents said they thought it was fraudulent."PR Week (discussed in relation to Vodafone's reputation)
Hmm... were those two the only options given? Not the last word, I know, but Wikipedia's definition is thus:
"Tax avoidance is the legal utilization of the tax regime to one's own advantage, to reduce the amount of tax that is payable by means that are within the law."I also add George Orwell's comments (Wartime Diary, 8/9/40):
"Towards the government I feel no scruples and would dodge paying the [income] tax if I could. Yet I would give my life for England readily enough, if I thought it necessary. No one is patriotic about taxes."
2 comments:
I'm guessing that the three quarters who said it was fraudulent are either;
a) public sector workers
b) private sector employees
c) unemployed
Business owners and entrepenuers know too well that avoidance is perfectly legal. It has to be. If they make this illegal, they will drive businesses out of the UK and whole country will be closed.
As for Vodafone, they did a deal with HMRC. HMRC cannot bully corporate firms to the extent they can with smaller ones. It's all just one big nonsense. The economy is being affected by this very stupid debate.
I'm sure you're correct. The debate is being led by certain people who are deliberately conflating tax avoidance and tax evasion.
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