The Janus faces of taxation
In Roman mythology Janus is the god of doorways and gates. I see him as the epitome of how some people like to argue the ethics of taxation and specifically the non-dom issue. Richard Murphy takes Simon McKie to task over his convoluted logic in applying an ethical dimension to the debate:
The significance of their charitable involvement in the provision of artworks for public display, for example, became obvious when lobbyists alerted the Government to the threat posed by its original proposals to heritage charities, which resulted in one of the Chancellor’s many u-turns.
How many times have I heard that taxation isn’t an ethical issue when it comes to fighting dubious schemes? Especially when it comes from those who defend such actions. How many ways do people want to argue these things before it sinks in that you can’t pick and choose your arguments to suit a position? Either tax is an ethical issue or it is not. I prefer to think it is, based on the notion that taxation serves an ethical purpose in civil society.
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