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Nevertheless, one thing is very clear, as Luis Guillermo Valez explains via PanamPost,
Why can't tax evasion be a legitimate form of self defense? In some countries and circumstances, it is. � Despite�what politicians want us to believe, tax havens exist because some�countries have been turned into tax hellholes by officials bent on "social justice" and "income redistribution." � Sometimes, those same politicians top the list of "offshore" account holders trying�to evade taxes. � "The Wealth of Nations" by Adam Smith had something to say about this kind of government revenue, namely that taxes are a�lesser evil overall than other forms of paying for public services. � But to prevent taxes from harmful excess, Smith left to posterity the four principles of good taxation, which have been almost completely forgotten by politicians concerned with�legislating taxation. � Here is Smith's�wise warning:
And if corruption and overspending is added to excessive taxation, the motives for tax evasion are complete. � Once again Smith:
In the 1970s, I met a Canadian man called Bryan O'Connor. � He used to deliver pizzas in Toronto and always carried a little notebook in which he religiously wrote down all the tips he received in his work, preventing the risk of missing a penny in his tax return. � I've never met anyone else like Bryan. I think he and Immanuel Kant are probably the only people in human history who voluntarily paid all their taxes. I'm sure Bryan has. � Nor do I believe that Jesus Christ was completely honest when answering the Pharisees about paying taxes. � He said,
After all, the man had left behind the honorable carpentry work and did not seem to generate any taxable income. � That's probably why he was defeated in the famous vote competing with Barabbas, who - weapons in hand - had rebelled against the ominous tribute of Imperial Rome. � Since ancient times people have rebelled against taxes. � The Roman provinces were often faced uprisings against fiscal depredations and their leaders' abuses. The peasant wars in Germany, of which Frederick Engels, Marx's buddy, has left a vivid account were tax rebellions. � The French Revolution began as the uprising of the Estates General�against taxes,�demanding a cheap government. Interestingly, the twentieth century, which saw a rapid growth in the size of governments and taxes, was free of riots and tax rebellions. � And not because all taxpayers behaved like Bryan O'Connor... � � � � Panama Papers - What about�Modern Governments? � Though no less rapacious than prior ones, modern governments are more tempered and have given up on the most ominous tax collection practices:
However, it is not shocking to the majority's opinion that there are a few who punish tax evasion with imprisonment. � This is the case of,
...Colombia's partners in the Pacific Alliance, and whose shameful example the Colombian government proposed to imitate in the last tax reform. � Everyone, from the Leviathan-worshipping�economists, politicians, and political scientists who serve them, to journalists, tax attorneys, and the public opinion sees the evader as a criminal and the government that punishes him as the defender of society, no matter how corrupt and abusive it may be. � In illo tempore, the evader was seen as a hero who faced a thief state. The inverted values of current�times have a background of hypocrisy that nobody can deny. � In almost all countries, legislatures who enact�taxes are composed mostly of professional politicians who, by granting special benefits, want to keep lobbyists�and wealthy campaign donors happy. � Interest groups and political operators are willing to grant�each other benefits with the hope that the general coffers will bear the costs. � Everything is a bargaining of crossed interests leading to casuistical and tangled tax regimes, completely away from the predicaments of solidarity, equity, and efficiency which ultimately are no more than a cover more for private interests. � The economists, lawyers, tax experts, and other technicians who advise governments in the design of structural tax reforms - which are periodically announced but never arrive - are generally also company advisers and wealthy individuals looking to reduce their effective taxation rate.
That is the common background of what is called the state, from which�everyone wants to get a lot and contribute little. � But yes, everyone�denounces�tax evasion.
This new and sinister Statist International will�be a major threat to�capital mobility and individual freedom. � However, because supposedly the offshore world only affects the�rich, everyone applauds in a universal expression of envy and hypocrisy. � The problem of national and international evasion is not resolved with the creation of a universal tax police. Small, moderate, simple, and austere governments and fiscal�systems adjusted to the four rules of Smith are the best antidote against tax evasion. � But in the current state of public opinion where people�accept and demand - as Walter Lippmann would say - a large�government�that administers their affairs for them�instead of a government�that administers justice�among men who conduct�their own affairs, it is at best an anachronism to invoke the wise old Smith. � � � |
