Resisting paying tax - the moral thing to do?

[Smiling Buddha]

Hello friends,

You might have heard that our government today announced that we as a country will be spending at least twelve billion dollars to procure a few dozen fighter jets from the US military industrial complex. You can find bigfooty discussion on the particulars of the jets and the deal here.

It got me to thinking about an article I read in Vice the other day. Here is a snippet:

Refusing to give your money to a government that can literally print money might not change things in the short term. But war tax resisters, as people who refuse to pay federal income taxes as a form of protest are known, have decided they have no choice in the matter: They can’t in good conscience financially support a system that spends billions of dollars on machines of death while millions of people go hungry, and they don't believe a politician's failure to act takes away their own responsibility to do whatever they can.

http://www.vice.com/en_ca/read/dont-pay-your-taxes

Now things aren't quite as dire here in Australia, as our defence budget isn't nearly as large as America's (in relative or absolute terms, see these charts) and our population is not nearly as impoverished as theirs is. Still, the reality is that our government indirectly supports the US war machine through defense contracts like the one announced today, and directly supports it whenever the American establishment decides to invade and pillage another country (see Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq). If there is a moral case to be made against paying taxes to a war machine, it is as applicable here as it is over there, even if the magnitudes of support differ.

The article also makes the point that large companies like google use legal tax avoidance strategies to pay little to no tax, not only in the US but in Australia as well. If you support multi-billion dollar corporations paying little to no tax in this country, why wouldn't you support your neighbour doing likewise? Especially if they do it legally by, say, working as little as possible and not going over the tax-free threshold? Or, heaven forbid, removing themselves from the workforce and living off welfare cheques?

I'm keen to get some different perspectives on this one. As always, I politely ask that those who cannot comment without name-calling/finger-pointing/mouth-frothing abstain from posting in this thread.

Over to you, bigfooty.

 

[iluvparis]

It isn't immoral to resist paying tax if you don't consume any government provided services....but good luck with that.

 

[Dont be a lemon]

War or no war, the costs of running a first world country are enormous.

It isn't immoral to resist paying tax if you don't consume any government provided services....but good luck with that.

There isn't a single person in Australia who does that.

 

[Messenger]

Unfortunately we don't get to specify in any detail which toilet our tax dollars get flushed down, but resisting contributing to the "war machine" also results in you not contributing to social welfare, health and other number of schemes for the common good.

 

[BALKAN]

It isn't immoral to resist paying tax if you don't consume any government provided services....but good luck with that.

This. It's expensive to build and maintain a first-class country. You take the good with the bad.

 

[Smiling Buddha]

Perhaps I ought to have posted the following rather than simply linking to them.

This is a breakdown of how US federal income tax revenue is spent:

Almost no infrastructure there.

And a breakdown of how total federal revenues are spent here in Australia:

How much of the government's expenditure does one have to disagree with before it becomes moral to resist paying taxes?

 

[iluvparis]

War or no war, the costs of running a first world country are enormous.



There isn't a single person in Australia who does that.

Exactly

 

[iluvparis]

How much of the government's expenditure does one have to disagree with before it becomes moral to resist paying taxes?

Very good question - I don't really have an answer.

I would probably say that if the mismanagement became so bad - most people would try to emigrate before resisting paying taxes.

 

[iluvparis]

Also - I bet if you asked people whether they would like spending to be cut on any of those categories (as a one off) they would say no. Except maybe defence.

But ask people about the aggregate level and they will all want the government to cut the budget deficit - but not raise taxes. Peons.

 

[BEEG]

I really don't know all I know is we need to pay something but what we currently pay as Australian's is just rediculas

 

[checkraiseulite]

how much tax are you paying at the moment, brah?

 

[Smiling Buddha]

about tree fiddy

 

[checkraiseulite]

more seriously, everyone has to pay their way.

i agree that this project is ridiculously overpriced and the money would be much better spent elsewhere, however it is naive for a multitude of reasons to believe we that we do not need to invest, and be seen to invest in defence.

your second point about multinationals paying ridiculously little tax here is of much more concern to me. sadly though, the nature of the system means that this will be very hard to address. by all means, tailor your income to track the tax-free threshold or get a cash-in-hand job, but actively not paying tax will likely catch up with you in the end.

 

[Dont be a lemon]

Perhaps I ought to have posted the following rather than simply linking to them.

This is a breakdown of how US federal income tax revenue is spent:

Almost no infrastructure there.

And a breakdown of how total federal revenues are spent here in Australia:

How much of the government's expenditure does one have to disagree with before it becomes moral to resist paying taxes?

The first image is from The Heritage Foundation aka renowned bullshitters.

 

[Messenger]

I really don't know all I know is we need to pay something but what we currently pay as Australian's is just rediculas

http://www.treasury.gov.au/Policy-T...ket-Guide-to-the-Australian-Tax-System/Part-1

We don't pay that much relative to other economies.

 

[Catfish Alley]

http://www.treasury.gov.au/Policy-T...ket-Guide-to-the-Australian-Tax-System/Part-1

We don't pay that much relative to other economies.

True. If you take out the Scandinavian countries then Australia would be about on average. You do notice just small increases though. Canada is only about 4% above Australia but it was noticeable when I moved here.

 

[Smiling Buddha]

http://www.treasury.gov.au/Policy-T...ket-Guide-to-the-Australian-Tax-System/Part-1

We don't pay that much relative to other economies.

The graphs on that page are based on tax-to-GDP ratios, which are almost useless for evaluating how much tax the average person pays as a percentage of their income, let alone how this amount compares to other nations.

 

[Illinois Nazi]

what we currently pay as Australian's is just rediculas

Defiinitely need more on education.

 

[Catfish Alley]

If you try and do this, can you please bump this thread in a few years? I'd be interested to see what the repercussions were.

 

[Unknown Caller]

The finger thing means the taxes.

 

[GPW1]

let the bears pay the bear tax.

 

[Mofra]

Unfortunately we don't get to specify in any detail which toilet our tax dollars get flushed down, but resisting contributing to the "war machine" also results in you not contributing to social welfare, health and other number of schemes for the common good.

This sums it up - the purchase of F35s represents only a small fraction of what the budget is actually used for, and that is before you consider consumption taxes such as the GST.

The simple fact you are employed means your employer is paying payroll tax.

In short - unless you squat away from from any urban environment and are completely self-sufficent, you are likely to be payign some of tax (and for most people, multiple forms of tax).

 

[Private Hudson]

How does one resist paying tax? I have no control over it?

 

[Smiling Buddha]

If you try and do this, can you please bump this thread in a few years? I'd be interested to see what the repercussions were.

What 'repercussions' could you foresee?

A man who is happy with a simple existence (no need for 'fashionable' clothes, mind-numbing gadgets, or over-priced meals at restaurants) could easily live on $18k per year.

How does one resist paying tax? I have no control over it?

Two easy options.

1) Earn too little to pay tax. The current tax-free threshold is about $18k. Earn below that and you pay no income tax. Work two days a week on a basic casual wage and you will be set.

2) Earn nothing and sponge off the government. This has the added benefit of sucking more even money out of the government's coffers (if you truly believe big government is immoral, which many people do).

This sums it up - the purchase of F35s represents only a small fraction of what the budget is actually used for, and that is before you consider consumption taxes such as the GST.

The simple fact you are employed means your employer is paying payroll tax.

In short - unless you squat away from from any urban environment and are completely self-sufficent, you are likely to be payign some of tax (and for most people, multiple forms of tax).

All true. Of course, GST and other state taxes go back to the states thsemselves, who do not use it (so far as I am aware) on defence spending, as this is a federal government responsibility.

 

[Illinois Nazi]

So essentially what you want is to be a complete bludger and sponge on society, but justify it by claiming some moral crusade?

Go right ahead, nobody will care. Or notice.