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I'm no economist, but this doesn't pass my logic test. You're saying that the world's wealth is fixed and we can only change the way that it's distributed. I would think that's a highly controversial statement, even to the most strident opponents of a fiat currency. Thinking about it from...

I think we're talking about two different groups of people. Working for a high salary paying 46.5% in tax is not "paying your fair share", in my view - that's far too much. I was referring to people in business, or professional investors, who may pay substantial amounts of tax in real...

It's my experience that many wealthy people are actually quite happy to pay their share of taxes. I think that feeling that it's necessary to defraud the ATO to get ahead is poor man's thinking. There's enough profit out there for everybody, including the ATO.

ianvestor, I guess the issue is that most Australians want first-world services from their government, and if we want that, we have to pay for it somehow. I notice that first-world countries generally have much higher taxation rates than less developed countries, presumably because we expect so...

By "legit", I mean "legal" - you're seeing a distinction where I didn't intend one. I would answer no, too. I think that the moral imperative is to obey the law; I make no moral judgement on the rightness or otherwise of that law, or the uses to which taxes are put, either. If we don't like...

As you're not the first to misunderstand, let me clarify: I think that everybody should pay every dollar of tax that they're legally obliged to, but no more. I have zero objection to anybody structuring their finances and ownership in a manner that's legal and minimises tax - you'd be crazy not...

:rolleyes: No, actually, I'm not. But that's more because I can't be bothered doing all the paperwork to support them than because it's a donation, but that's an entirely different matter. Alex, if you can't see the difference between claiming all deductions you're entitled to, and attempting...

Tax is not a penalty that one should manipulate their circumstances to try and avoid; it's the means by which we collect necessary contributions for the common good. If you get married (or live together), one of the properties becomes an investment and thus the capital gain becomes taxed. But...