I haven't missed the point you were trying to make, I was making different ones. They included personal values.
An apology was in order for your misreading of your own admissions and the insults you lobbed at me.
Instead I got an explanation, which only confirms my take on this is correct.
I had the choice to go down the path that you took and I didn't do it. The result is I'm a lot poorer than I may have been but I can look at myself in the mirror and I'm not surrounded by fake friends nor do I make excuses for myself.
Acting within the letter of the law is an excuse but it's not a reasonable one in the context of wider social expectations.
The implications are colossal. They cannot be unwound in a few generations.
We have a divided society and I know people like you, and they're literally scared for their personal safety.
The paranoia is intense. This is the psychological effect of guilt.
I make the point that the law relies on a culture of compliance. This is generally true, and it holds even more true in the field of international law.
We are going to need international co-operation to end offshore tax havens and find ways of plugging the gaps because of the lack of tax receipts. In Australia we still have huge tax receipts from mining but it's not enough.
In this the field of taxation Australia has a colossal problem because of the culture of evasion literal compliance with the law.
I've met people like you many times, and in their retirement years they look back on what they've done with more than a tinge of regret.
The solution isn't to just shut the stable door when the horse has bolted. Because when you set limits, the first thing people do is to move their capital around, disguise it and find other ways. I understand public policy, trust me. The limit you propose is still offensive. $5million? Do you seriously think this is reasonable? To you it is. that's what's so gobsmacking about the divide. You're operating in a different reality.
We need a cultural shift.
We have a major schism that's appeared in society and I'm not about to pretend otherwise.
I suggest you face up to what you did and find ways to help others. Do it while you can. Because social unrest is going to become very bad indeed if this isn't sorted out and it's going to get very nasty indeed.
Get out there and talk to people on the front lines of this social disaster. I see people who through no fault of their own are literally starved of nutrients, because they cannot afford to eat properly. Others have not only this, but cannot afford a roof over their heads.
If we don't increase social security (think about the meaning of the term) and make emergency housing and then affordable housing available and rapidly, we are going to have waves of violence and robberies and insecurity. That is not a threat I'm making to you personally (unlike your very rude comments).
But it's a reality and if we don't deal with it, the pitchforks are coming.
I suggest you watch this, it's about Britain but the macro analysis is sharp and cogent, and the parallels are very clear especially when we look at the 3rd stage tax breaks and offslore tax schemes:
