(JollofNews)- Successive governments have left us with a tax regime so complex it verges on a chaotic system. Which is exactly why we should be suspicious of politicians who talk imprecisely about tax avoidance and tax evasion – or who muddle the two terms, or use them interchangeably.
Tax avoidance and tax evasion is what we do when we fill in tax returns and carefully recall the legitimate expenses with which to reduce taxable profits. Tax avoidance and tax evasion is illegal, and it’s immoral. Most people expect, and are not fully prepared, to pay their due taxes. Not wanting to pay more tax than that isn’t something to be proud of. It’s dodgy or morally questionable or anti-social. It’s naturally evil.
The word beautifully describes the nonsensical, Alice-in-Wonderland world where people who seek legitimately to minimize tax end up being impugned as selfish, criminal, unpatriotic and the rest. Tax avoidance and tax evasion is not something that just the wealthy and the politicians can take advantage of.
Whilst there are some big names that have squirreled away piles of cash in offshore bank accounts and taken dodgy tax avoidance and tax evasion procedures, there are also people like poor or middle-income people who have paid as much as they can into their pension fund to secure a reasonable standard of living (i.e., not on the breadline) once they have retired.
But the biggest irony is that those doing the impugning are the very people who created our tax system with its endless layering of tax rates and allowances, and the fiendishly complex interrelation of the two: tax evasion and tax avoidance.
The tax system now works in such a way as to produce numerous cliff edges where, for instance, a tiny increase in earnings results in a huge jump in tax. In several cases the extra money earned would result in marginal tax rates of well over any amount.
Who would not act to try to avoid these and other tax traps: there is no “spirit of the law” unless you know exactly what was inside each lawmaker’s head at the time they voted for a law. There are laws made by National Assembly. If the laws made by National Assembly have more holes than a teabag then that is the fault of National Assembly, and there is no point in them whining about it. Either something is allowed or it isn’t.
What next? How about we have “aggressive law avoidance” for people we don’t like, doing things we don’t like, but who are not breaking the law? It is up to the government to write tax legislation in such a way that it cannot be exploited through so called loopholes.
The law on taxation is too complicated with far too many concessions which leads to exploitative schemes which then must be decided in court.
Aggressive tax avoidance sticks in the public craw as much as the drunk driver who kills someone then gets off on a technicality or the politician maximizing expenses. The public has a very good strong sense of what is right and wrong.
The answer is to significantly cut public spending and significantly cut the rate of integral taxation. There would then be little incentive for taxpayers to put so much effort into avoidance, and practically none to encourage taxpayers to take the risks of evasion! But of course, the politicians do not and will not do it, because their profligacy and corruption has no limits.
It is sad that Yerro Jallow have turn to this moron who just open hos mouth and say anything that comes to mind. Mr., tax evasion is illegal. But tax avoidance has never been illegal anywhere. Please, if you havw knpw idea of a subject matter, conduct your research before writing on it or keep quite.
Next time check your grammar and better articulate yourself well and don’t be a coward use your real name.
I have always thought “Alice in Wonderland” was a horror story and not a children’s bedtime story. It would be nice if the Gambian government would stop paying itself tax free benefits and set sail sometime this millennium in creating business, that will pay tax. Not withstanding they have to form a group to conceive a single thought, that they feel the need to expand its puzzling thought process, from a think tank.
If the people are starving surely this non plus coalition should take home half wages and take the Gele Gele home.
Alice in Wonderland has been cited in serious academic journals and I don’t what you are thinking. Alice in Wonderland is a story that represents the cultural shift in Victorian ideas and its vision of childhood. The character of Alice represents an ideal Victorian youth, but her inabilities, confinement, and limitations in Wonderland suggest a culture clash and changing times. The story of Alice, through its puns, miscommunication, confusing mannerisms, and cultural disconnection between Alice and the inhabitants of Wonderland, preach a rejection of the Victorian adult realm. The novel itself provides an alternative for children to be children rather than obedient little adults.
Alice in Wonderland has been cited in serious academic journals and I don’t know what you are thinking. Alice in Wonderland is a story that represents the cultural shift in Victorian ideas and its vision of childhood. The character of Alice represents an ideal Victorian youth, but her inabilities, confinement, and limitations in Wonderland suggest a culture clash and changing times. The story of Alice, through its puns, miscommunication, confusing mannerisms, and cultural disconnection between Alice and the inhabitants of Wonderland, preach a rejection of the Victorian adult realm. The novel itself provides an alternative for children to be children rather than obedient little adults.
For sure: The stuff of children’s nightmares and adult fantasies. Meantime back in the real world>>>Child exploitation/trafficking and Female Genital Mutilation, present a clear and present danger worth more than intellectual interlocation> of obscure not of this real world self appointed professors of everything.
School report/ Must try harder to communicate;
The author is really confusing the two. In broad terms when we talk about tax evasion we talking about people breaking the law in order to evade paying their taxes. while when we talk about tax avoidance taking advantage of loopholes within the law to minimize the amount of tax you are paying. It is not a clear broad line between the two but each have serious implications in the economy. The author should have explained the two distinctly rather than adding to the confusion that this can create.
Tax Justice Network and Dr. Faal have a point there.
Indeed, the two terms have never been synonymous but unfortunately the man in the street is seldom alive to that fact. However, Faal’s definition lies within their respective definitions among initiated circles both in academia and the professional world. Tax evasion is as a rule illegal universally – and I condemn it in its totality – in contradistinction to tax evasion. Indeed, the title of my masters thesis is: Danish transfer pricing law in an international tax law context. It deals with the taxation of profits earned by group members who trade with one another. As evident from the title it is an international tax law topic.
In the year of the Lord 2017, states do compete with one another on many fronts: One of these centres on tax policy. What Mr Jallow describes as tax loopholes in his article are often deliberate executive policy instruments aimed either at encouraging investments in certain sectors of the economy or vice versa, encouraging savings in the economy, etc. Hence, it does not come as a surprise to the initiated eye that firms and private individuals do take advantage of them with a view to optimizing their respective tax liabilities. The logic at play seems to be: why pay more in taxes than what you are permitted to pay under the law? This is where moralist come with accusing fingers as to tax avoidance’s morality in this context. Well, people are welcome to advance moral arguments against the practice of tax avoidance. But the other side of the argument is this: Where is the immorality in the taxpayer arranging his/her affairs with a view to upholding the laws of the land and simultaneously saving on an item of expense – in casu, taxes?
In conclusion, tax avoidance seems to be here to stay so long as nation-states compete with one another in terms of tax policy. Remember, in the eyes of the law both the corporation and the physical human being are “persons” – with attendant rights and duties. Both are expected by the law to act rationally while managing and going about their daily activities.
Sorry, I came to write in contradistinction to tax evasion instead of “avoidance” above. The mistake is hereby regretted.
I used to think the main purpose of living was to propagate children, to become better faster and happier than we were, to progress human life to travel the Universe someday and become supreme time travellers forever.
Now I just think governments have a different plan. That is for children to spend a life in debt,paying taxes, working 60 hours a week, to rent a one roomed flat.