Tax Avoidance: Moral or Not?

[Cecelia]

Yes, I think it's immoral. There's nothing wrong with taking your deductions (my husband and I don't personally itemize, even though it might save us money. It's not even a matter of laziness because a friend of ours does our taxes for us, and she doesn't expect much in return. We just don't do it.) But using loopholes and going above and beyond to avoid taxation is immoral.

Taxes are the price for living in a society where our children are educated, our poor are taken care of, a society that is policed and protected. Personally I wouldn't want to live in a society where people are only educated if they can afford it. I'd hope for most others it would be the same.

I also agree that it's time to start taxing churches. Let them write off their charitable acts. It's also time to start taxing charities that spend less than 60% of their money on charitable services. (Fisher House for example spends 91% on their program expenses.) Actually 66%--2/3rds might be a better number. Any lower than that and they shouldn't really be considered a charity imo.