The Rule of Law v the Rule of Man
Analysis
BBC
4.6 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 22 July 2013
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
With huge concern over tax avoidance, tax officials are the latest to be given increased powers of discretion. They will be able to penalise people who have obeyed the letter of the law, but who have contravened the spirit of the tax code - as determined by the officials themselves, based on certain criteria. The use of official discretion is now applying across the UK's legal systems, from areas such as tax and finance to crime and hate speech.
Philosopher Jamie Whyte asks: is this growth in the Rule of Man undermining the Rule of Law? If officials can punish you, despite the fact that you followed the rules on the books, doesn't that raise the danger of injustice?
Even though few tears are being shed for tax avoiders, couldn't the lack of legal clarity lead to uncertainty? Would that drive business away from Britain? Jamie unravels the methods of sophisticated tax lawyers, and speaks to academic thinkers and legislators. He asks if we are we creating a culture where it pays to cosy up to officials. And he explores the deeper philosophy of the Rule of Law and whether it is being diminished in our uncertain times.
Producer: Mukul Devichand.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.7 | My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:08.5 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices. |
| 0:18.0 | What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars, |
| 0:24.6 | poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples. |
| 0:29.7 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. |
| 0:36.0 | Thanks for downloading from the BBC. This is Analysis. |
| 0:40.0 | This week, if you're angry about tax avoidance, |
| 0:43.4 | prepare to be surprised by philosopher Jamie White's argument |
| 0:47.2 | against the dangers of a mob mentality. reality. |
| 0:57.0 | Corporate Britain, in the dock for doing something perfectly legal, using clever accounting to reduce their tax bills. |
| 1:06.0 | Millions of people are angered and quite rightly angered when they feel there's a wealthy |
| 1:11.0 | elite or large businesses who can pay an army of tax |
| 1:14.4 | accountants to get out of paying their fair share of tax. |
| 1:18.8 | This is the story of how we in Britain are responding to public outrage over tax avoidance. |
| 1:27.0 | The Coalition's message to clever tax advisors, you're fired. |
| 1:38.0 | This year we're giving Britain its first ever general anti-abuse rule and we will name and shame the promoters of tax avoidance schemes. My message to those who make a living advising |
| 1:46.2 | other people how to aggressively avoid their taxes is this. This government is not |
| 1:51.8 | going to let you get away with it. |
| 1:54.0 | M.P. may be cheering on the new general anti-abuse rule for tax avoiders, but I'm not. I'm Jamie White, a philosopher with a background in the city. |
| 2:07.0 | In this week's analysis, I'll argue for an unpopular position that however much tax avoidance reduces the government's income and however much it |
| 2:15.9 | outrages voters, this new anti-abuse rule enacted into law last week is a very bad idea. It violates general legal principles that are far |
... |
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