<story><title>IRS records reveal how the wealthiest avoid income tax</title><url>https://www.propublica.org/article/the-secret-irs-files-trove-of-never-before-seen-records-reveal-how-the-wealthiest-avoid-income-tax</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>K0balt</author><text>Unless you are a wage or salary earner, it is trivially easy to avoid having to pay taxes, at least in the USA. Same with the much lauded “inheritance tax” and even, to a lesser extent, sales taxes. It costs about 4000us a year to maintain the legal structures required to pay essentially no taxes, except sales taxes in some locations.  In many cases, for lower levels of income, just having a small business can negate income tax burdens.&lt;p&gt;Taxation always has been, and continues to be, a burden for the servile class to bear. The rich or enterprising pay taxes only when they are ill prepared or choose to, often to reduce scrutiny.&lt;p&gt;The &amp;quot; I should pay more taxes&amp;quot; rhetoric from the wealthy is merely virtue signaling, it is totally legal to pay more taxes than you owe, and you can even reclaim the money later if you need to. There is nothing preventing anyone from paying the taxes that they feel that they should owe, in excess of legal requirements.&lt;p&gt;By and large, sales taxes are more evenly applied, but that too is far from perfect.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>md_</author><text>I think “I should pay more taxes” is generally understood as shorthand for “all people in my financial situation should pay more taxes.”&lt;p&gt;It’s a bit like saying “I should be required to have fire protection”, “I should be required to carry health insurance,” or “I should be required to use standard turn signals on the road.”</text></comment>
<story><title>IRS records reveal how the wealthiest avoid income tax</title><url>https://www.propublica.org/article/the-secret-irs-files-trove-of-never-before-seen-records-reveal-how-the-wealthiest-avoid-income-tax</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>K0balt</author><text>Unless you are a wage or salary earner, it is trivially easy to avoid having to pay taxes, at least in the USA. Same with the much lauded “inheritance tax” and even, to a lesser extent, sales taxes. It costs about 4000us a year to maintain the legal structures required to pay essentially no taxes, except sales taxes in some locations.  In many cases, for lower levels of income, just having a small business can negate income tax burdens.&lt;p&gt;Taxation always has been, and continues to be, a burden for the servile class to bear. The rich or enterprising pay taxes only when they are ill prepared or choose to, often to reduce scrutiny.&lt;p&gt;The &amp;quot; I should pay more taxes&amp;quot; rhetoric from the wealthy is merely virtue signaling, it is totally legal to pay more taxes than you owe, and you can even reclaim the money later if you need to. There is nothing preventing anyone from paying the taxes that they feel that they should owe, in excess of legal requirements.&lt;p&gt;By and large, sales taxes are more evenly applied, but that too is far from perfect.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>furyg3</author><text>I remember a speech by the British comedian David Mitchell.  There had been recent scrutiny on a celebrity figure when it came to light that he used all sorts of dirty (but legal) tricks to avoid paying income tax.&lt;p&gt;Tax avoidance is, of course, legal. In this sense the rich are allowed to choose how much tax they wish to pay, based on their individual conscience or morals.&lt;p&gt;So effectively, governments have a &amp;#x27;tax on moral behavior&amp;#x27;, which is stupid.</text></comment>