Re: Glen Wheatley out of jail

Fleeced wrote:

> "Wolfy 'Dial-up' Wildeblood" wrote:
> >
> > Tax avoidance is not, and never has been, a crime. He was evading tax,
> > which is, and always has been, a crime. You should learn the
> > difference between avoidance and evasion before forming, and sharing,
> > your opinion of Wheatley's behaviour and punishment.
>
> Don't be silly, of course they're the same thing.  A legal form of tax
> avoidance is made illegal at the stroke of a pen and becomes tax
> evasion.  In many cases, they've even made such laws retrospective.

Not so. While it's true a legal form of avoidance can be legislated
away, that doesn't mean it then becomes evasion. Evasion is about
telling lies.


> In this case, it seems that Wheatley probably thought he'd found a
> legal loophole.  He thought he was avoiding tax, the law said he was
> evading tax.

He stashed money in foreign banks, assuming the government would never
find it, then lied about its existence. That's not avoidance or
avoision, it's simple evasion.