What motivates tax avoidance?

[BrilloPad]

What motivates tax avoidance? - Contractor Weekly

[flamel]

What motivates tax avoidance? - Contractor Weekly

The article leaves out the fact that tax is paid to HMRC (bunch of immoral cowboys) and then distributed to a bunch of rich ex-Etonians to play around with (the Government) and keep their rich friends rich (bankers) at the expense of the plebeians (us lot).

[LondonManc]

Wouldn't mind knowing which TAS Tristan is signed up to!

[DonkeyRhubarb]

HMRC's focus always seems to be on the users.

Surely it would make more sense to target the dealers (promoters) like the Police do?

[Fred Bloggs]

Essentially, this is extremely simple. Your salary is taxed three times before you receive it. EENIC, ERNIC and income tax. Add that up and it is easy to see why folks are really pi55ed off with levels of taxation in the UK. It naturally follows that those same people will do whatever they can to mitigate their tax. For some people, that leads to them being a ready buyer of schemes to avoid tax. It is demonstrably very, very simple. No need for a PhD thesis on the subject.

[webberg]

The article stems from a paper

HMRC Research report 401, "Exploring public attitudes to tax avoidance in 2015"

The basis of the analysis can be picked over but essentially is based on a "random" sample of households with no reference to socio economic groupings. Given that perhaps 95% of more of tax planning is undertaken by the higher socio economic groups, this base of opinions might be accused as being biased before a question is even asked as human nature means that envy and "the grass is greener" attitudes are not adjusted for.

Looking at the questions, again raises some serious doubts.

Q1 to Q5 are asking about how perceptions of HMRC are held, based on a slanted introductory explanation.

Q6 then leaps into "this is obviously bad but how we should we deal with it".

Etc etc.

There is not any debate or balance in the paper or the questions and it's almost as though HMRC told the researchers the answers they wanted and worked backward from there.

For instance a question such as:

Is it acceptable for HMRC to open and enquiry and investigate for 10 years, during which time interest is accruing, without bringing a successful case to Court?

If not, should HMRC be forced to conclude its enquiries within the usual tax appeal window of 6 years?

Etc etc.

It's just a piece of propaganda and I've not noticed that any of the broadsheets have picked it up and even the Daily Hater redtops seem to have allowed it to pass. (That may be because some of the words have more than two syllables though and the editors may have struggled?)