Dr Stephen Riley on how wealthy people collude to avoid tax and Hilary Cashman says people should be morally obliged to pay their fair share. Plus letters from Hugh Cooper, Adrian Carter, Angela Barton, Liz McInnes and Sue Wallace
I am sick of hearing that wealthy people who use tax-avoidance schemes are “doing nothing wrong”. The only reason they are doing nothing wrong is that other wealthy people – friends, relatives, business associates, old school chums – in the legislature have built loopholes into the tax system for this purpose. We have a collusive system where members of an exclusive clique gain access to the legislature, often while funded by others of the clique, and create legislation that only applies to those outside the clique and creates a lower-tax life for those within it.
Other people dodging tax are doing something wrong; the only reason these people are doing nothing wrong is that their tax-reduction schemes come with immunity. To place some people above the laws that govern the rest of society is to create something between a kleptocracy and an oligarchy. Colluding in such a system is doing something wrong.
Dr Stephen Riley
Bruton, Somerset
