I SOMETIMES SEE comments by friends and acquaintances on social media complaining they don’t think they’re being taxed enough. They’re always the same people who believe the press nonsense about “tax-dodging” companies and individuals, and love to join in the general whinge about tax avoidance as an evil. For them the distinction between avoidance and evasion is a legal nicety and a moral irrelevance.
Individual or corporation, the message is the same: paying lots of tax is a sign of secular sainthood.
Their unquestioning belief in the state as the only arbiter of social action, and the incredible ease with which they are consistently duped by the media is unnerving. They are usually well educated and qualified individuals who should do a little research into the facts and apply some independent thinking before joining in the communal jerking of knees, but they never do. So much for education.
If you think you are not being asked to pay your “fair share” of tax as individuals, then get off your socialist backsides and rectify the situation by some direct action.
Well, my message to them is straightforward. If you think you are not being asked to pay your “fair share” of tax as individuals, then get off your socialist backsides and rectify the situation by some direct action. I recommend you calculate how much extra tax you think you should be paying and donate that amount to a charity or institution of your choice. At least you’d know there’s a good chance most of it will go to the people you want to help rather than being pumped around the elephantine and inefficient bureaucracy of the state.
If you don’t trust charities, give the cash directly to those in need. Get yourself off to your local Waitrose, fill up a trolley and wheel it down to your nearest foodbank. Use your imagination: disburse your largesse as you see fit.
That way I keep more of my own money to dispose of as I wish and you get to salve your sensitive conscience. So, please, stop asking the state to increase my tax bill. I’m not a saint. I don’t want to pay more than my fair share so you can sit there polishing your sainthood.
