Emotionally taxing

Since the 1970s, every US president (except one) has released their tax returns to the public. They know nothing undermines trust in politicians more than the suspicion that they are avoiding their taxes.

That is what the UK government discovered this week. For days, it tried to subdue public outrage over Nadhim ZahawiA British Conservative party politician.'s tax affairs. Zahawi has admitted that he paid a seven-figure penalty to the tax office because of a "careless and not deliberate" error in his tax returns. Yesterday, he was sacked by prime minister Rishi Sunak.

Zahawi is only the latest figure in the public eye to be plagued with questions about tax. Lionel MessiThe world's highest-paid footballer, he is reported to earn £107.6m a year at Barcelona. and ShakiraA Colombian singer and songwriter who has become known as the "Queen of Latin Music". have had run-ins with the Spanish government. Even British prime minister Rishi Sunak has been burnt: last year his wife, Akshata MurtyAn Indian businesswoman and daughter of an IT billionaire. She is married to Rishi Sunak. , was accused of paying less tax than she should have.

There is an important legal difference here. Messi and Shakira were accused of tax evasion, which is a criminal offence. Murty, however, was only thought to be avoiding tax, which is not illegal.

But some think on a moral level, there is no real difference between evading and avoiding tax. Both, they say, are stealing from the public.

The government spends most of its money on healthcare, education, defence and transport.¹ These are things that everyone in society benefits from. So not paying taxes, some argue, means taking things without paying for them.

And the rich, they claim, actually benefit more from taxation than anyone else. Rich people tend to own businesses. So they gain from public healthcare, which keeps their employees healthy and productive, and from state-funded transport, which allows them to move goods around easily.

But others insist this attitude is outdated. The problem, they argue, is that wealth has become more mobile than ever before.

Today, if you try to make rich people pay too much tax, they will just take their money elsewhere, and you will get nothing. But if you turn a blind eye, they are more likely to stay and boost your economy with their money.

Some libertariansSomeone who believes that the state should intervene in markets and the lives of citizens as little as possible. believe this is all the wrong way round. They say avoiding tax is not stealing from the public; tax is the public stealing from you.

Yes: Taxes have been called "the price we pay to live in a civilised society". They fund the services that make all our lives better. Someone who does not pay, but still wants the services, is stealing. 

No: It is just inevitable that people who can find ways of dodging taxes will do so. Complaining about this does not change it. Instead we should find ways of benefiting from it.

Or... Dodging taxes is not wrong because it is stealing; it is wrong because it is refusing to participate in a basic civic duty. Not paying taxes means turning one's back on the community.