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FORGET corporate entities, is fudging one's personal
in come-tax returns also a crime ? There's only one absolutely sure-fire way
to find out: get caught . Because when that happens you either have to bribe
your way out or cough up a hepty penalty. Whichever way, you pay for the
wrongdoing. So obviously, it's an offence. At the same time, hedging out
one's legit IT dues is somehow considered a kind of a brave and
swashbuckling thing to do. The person who finds one more undiscovered
loophole by means of which he or she can evade compliance is likened almost
to a Robin Hood---stealing from the rich (the government) and giving to the
poor (oneself).
Jessie James, the nineteenth century outlaw
operating in the untamed American west was another such putative Robin
figure. Or, at last, was quickly made into one after being gunned down by a
couple of bounty hunters. This is in spite of the fact that he was a cruel
criminal who killed defenceless people while holding up banks and trains.
Nevertheless, because he often didn't rob the customers or passengers
themselves and confined his stealing to vaults and federal rail safes (mainly
because they contained far more loot), he became a folk legend. Today, the
bandit has become such a figure of US mythos that he's the subject of
hundreds of songs, books, articles and even movies. He's been ritually purified.
Does this mean some laws can not only be broken with impunity but,
indeed, should be breached ? Not at all. Unlike hundreds of latter day hoods
who break the legitimate laws of the land, the original Mr. Hood was largely
fictive and archetypal. He represented the people's desire for a betterment
of society from a moral point of view. The law, for instance, makes no
difference between robbing from the poor as both are considered equal of
fences. However, in Nottingham, the rich had become rich by robbing from the
poor in the first place. Robin was merely bringing the real offenders
to justice. As was Mahatma Gandhi when he resisted British tyranny or Nelson
Mandela after his struggle against South African apartheid.
Income tax on the other hand is a different ballgame altogether---
the tales of folk heroism and dashing deeds of evaders in armour
notwithstanding. The rates may be high but they've been made by people
democratically elected into power. If you want to break those laws there's
an easier way to do it than paying for it through the nose. Break the government
instead. |
