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If I find a loophole in the law that allows me to murder someone without punishment, surely that's not moral or ethical, despite being legal?


Funny enough - that exists [1]

That said, murder & paying the least amount of taxes possible are slightly different scales of morality - don't you think?

Should you be judged morally because you have a tax accountant maximize your tax refund every year or should you just pay as much as possible without regard to being fiscally responsible to your own self?

[1]


I'm sure it's not intentional, but you don't actually give a source.

I'm not sure why I find the missing citation so funny (probably because the claim is pretty surprising), but I laughed really hard and up-voted you in case it was a joke and not a mistake.


He probably meant to link to something about the Yellowstone anomaly. The idea is you kill someone in the 50 square miles of Yellowstone National Park that is in the state of Idaho (most of Yellowstone is in the state of Wyoming).

The Sixth Amendment says in a criminal trial the defendant has a right to a trial by a jury from the State and district where the crime was committed.

The problem is that all of Yellowstone is in the District of Wyoming, including the 50 square miles that is in the State of Idaho. Hence, the jury must consist of people that are from that 50 square mile region of the park and state.

The permanent population of that region is 0, and it is a part of the park that is rarely visited so the transient population is close to 0.

No jury can be impaneled for your trial, and without a trial, you cannot be convicted.


Yup - sorry about - mind blank.

Here's the link - http://www.vox.com/2014/5/22/5738756/you-can-kill-someone-in...


Thanks. That's hilarious. If I ever decide to kill a man, I guess I now know where :-)


> That said, murder & paying the least amount of taxes possible are slightly different scales of morality - don't you think?

Certainly, which is why I wouldn't advocate the death penalty or life in prison for tax evasion/avoidance.

> Should you be judged morally because you have a tax accountant maximize your tax refund every year...

No, but I'm not asking them to engage in stuff like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Irish_arrangement.



No, but there is an ethical duty to not commit murder, but there is no ethical duty to pay more taxes than the government asks for.




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