[TimPC]

There is a very big difference between actually breaking the law and exploiting the fact that the law is poorly written, and doesn't properly account for a a variety of issues starting to be used by a sizeable portion of all US corporations.

[e12e]

Sure, if you're amoral but don't commit any crimes, you'll go free. If you're amoral, commit a crime and don't get caught, you'll also go free. There's a difference in the eyes of the law, but I don't think abusing the lack of efficient legislation gets you off the hook for doing wrong, though.

Extending this kind of reasoning leads to condoning such great corporate pioneers as Union Carbide and Dow Chemical (although I don't want to equate embezzling public money (via tax evasion) and killing and crippling people).

It does strike me as extremely short sighted when corporations that benefit immensely from government schooling, research etc go to such great lengths to dismantle the institutions that facilitate their access to skilled labour (among other things).

All that said, if you sneak away a million US or so, go for it. It makes no difference what any one individual does as such; I just wanted to demonstrate that I, at least, take issue with the idea that avoiding taxes should be considered on equal footing with launching a ground breaking technology company. I think the two are quite opposite, even if one might evolve into the other.

And I'm not saying that's what you said, the advice just seemed rather glaring in this context.

[FD3SA]

You may take issue with it, but it's a fact that a large number of very profitable companies have avoided hundreds of billions of dollars in taxes over recent years. Trying to shame an individual who wants to save a few hundred thousand for retirement is not only stupid, but inefficient.

Contrary to popular belief, not all tax evasion is created equal. A few hundred thousand by an individual is literally a rounding error to tax revenue. Take your tax crusade to Apple, Google, Amazon, Microsoft and the rest of the billion dollar club who are stealing your precious taxes by the hundreds of billions.

[e12e]

> A few hundred thousand by an individual is literally a rounding error to tax revenue.

Which is why I said: "All that said, if you sneak away a million US or so, go for it. It makes no difference what any one individual does as such(...)".

> (...) it's a fact that a large number of very profitable companies have avoided hundreds of billions of dollars in taxes over recent years. (...) Take your tax crusade to Apple, Google, Amazon, Microsoft and the rest of the billion dollar club who are stealing your precious taxes by the hundreds of billions.

Doing one does not preclude the other. If a company destroys wetlands by dumping chemical waste, that does not make it ok for an individual to destroy a small grove by doing the same.

What I probably failed to get across is that my main point is that I don't think it is OK to dodge taxes; I'm fully aware that pretty much anything any one individual does becomes a rounding error compared to what a big corporation does. But corporations are made up of people, and those people are guided by among other things prevailing sentiment. So the young whipper-snapper that starts out by dodging some taxes today, might think little of dodging billions in the capacity as CFO in thirty years.