[blocktuw]

The trope that minimizing your taxes is good and should be encouraged is tired and political. The reasoning that one isn't breaking any rules is like saying it's ok to take the entire bowl of Halloween candy because there aren't any rules against it. It is against the spirit of taxes which pool resources for the greater good of everyone.

Everybody has to pay taxes. Some people have the means to avoid paying a fair amount and retain even a higher percentage of their income. The poor pay many direct and indirect taxes which equals a higher percentage of their income than rich.[1]

Not saying that the world needs to be fair for everybody, but it's disingenuous to take advantage of public services and resources and say it isn't your responsibility to pay for them in an equitable way. Warrent Buffet understands this and wants it changed. [2]

And no meaningful tax reform law has any chance of passing due to gridlock in Congress. People like Zuckerberg are flaunting this fact and daring somebody to close loopholes.

[1] http://www.itep.org/whopays/full_report.php [2] http://fee.org/freeman/5-warren-buffetts-federal-tax-rate-is...

[refurb]

Would you argue that taking advantage of your 401k deduction is unfair to everyone else? How about the mortgage interest tax deduction? Deduction for child care?

I'm just curious where you draw the line.

[DanBC]

Tax planning is fine.

Tax evasion is illegal.

The grey area of tax avoidance - misusing tax laws in ways that were not intended - is not illegal, but not fine. A variety of bizarre corporate structures and dodges are used and the only purpose they serve is to shuffle tax away from government. There's no reason Starbucks has its own coffee bean roasting company that sells its beans at huge price to the Starbucks coffee shops. The only reason it's been structured like that is to funnel tax away from governments where the shops are to the tax haven where the coffee roasting company is.

When a London business, selling products in London, to people in London, buys Google ads from the Google London office, paying for those ads from their London bank account to Google's London bank account in GBP the only reason someone in Ireland rubber stamps the paperwork is so Google can -quite legally- avoid tax.

These are scumbag moves and they create a lot of hostility.

[harryh]

Someone in Ireland rubber stamps the paperwork so that Google can avoid paying US taxes on that London based transaction. Not British taxes.