jR8, I think we're on different wavelengths still. To be clear, my issue is not about the level of taxation, or left vs right politics, purely on the topic of tax avoidance specifically using tax havens, by which I'm not talking about countries like SG although it is sometimes listed as such. Also I'm not saying its illegal, just in my opinion unfair, and indeed greedy when practiced by individuals/companies who are already ultra rich.
For me there's no issue for SG to have relatively low taxes. And by living, working and paying my taxes here, as well as any taxes due in my home country, I am not avoiding tax or trying to, so I sleep quite easy on this. I have no assets or monies to "hide". Tax rates or financial disclosure policies do not really influence where I decide to reside or have citizenship, at least not as a primary or even secondary factor in this decision.
On the other hand, if I did use a BVI (or other tax haven) company to structure my affairs and shift/hide profits, cap gains etc, then I would sleep less easily nowadays, wondering if my advisers have done everything properly and kept up with all the regulatory changes, etc.
So I still struggle to grasp your arguments about duty free, communism etc. For me this issue is more analogous to NS, which has been discussed and debated at great length in this forum. And personally I would like to see the G8 govt's take a similar approach to tax avoiders (via tax havens) as the SG govt takes to NS avoiders, for reasons of fairness and upholding the intent/integrity of their tax and fiscal policy.
