The biggest crime in the UK today is tax evasion. The higher earners who can employ accountants tend to pay only a fraction of the income tax they are liable for.The writer clearly doesn't understand the difference between tax evasion, which is illegal, and tax avoidance - arranging one's affairs within the law so as to minimise one's tax liability - which is perfectly legitimate. It is the latter for which accountants offer help. If the writer had used a more precise term, say, Chartered Accountant, I suspect that he could be sued for libel. And who is the writer of this letter?
A libertarian returns to Scotland
"Freedom and Whisky gang thegither"
- Robert Burns
Thursday 22 August 2002
Another letter in the Herald
This one proclaims: