Governments should do more to prevent the mega-rich from exploiting tax loopholes.

In a brief response to his first remarks, I think my opponent and I can now agree that governments "need to (be) correcting the laws to remove the loopholes" that allow the mega-rich to avoid paying taxes as a definition of this debate. He then continued to remind us that it is Congress rather than the President of the USA that makes laws and duly supports his argument by quoting the Constitution. As a Brit I accept his argument unreservedly and would not presume to contradict him on matters pertaining to the American legislature. However, I anticipated this when I originally started the debate, which is why I entitled it using the generic term "governments" as opposed to "the Government", hoping to argue the moral, rather than the legal principles. My opponent then pointed out that the US Congress is Democrat controlled and they have failed to embarrass the President by presenting him with a Bill that would close loopholes for the rich, thus forcing him to either veto it or upset his wealthy friends and political donors. That's because the Democrats need wealthy people to donate to their election campaign funds just as much as the Republicans. Imagine if the Democrats approached a potential donor for money and were honest about their intentions… Ruth-Liz Kapitalitz: Welcome to Megabucks Oil Exploration and Environmental Destruction Inc. Do have a glass of fermented panda tears and a duck-billed platypus voul-a-vent. Democrat Fundraiser: Very kind, I'm sure and thank you for seeing me, Ms. Kapitalitrz. Now, as you know, we have an election coming up and we require a great deal of money to fund it, so we were just wondering if you could see your way clear to bunging us a few million dollars? RLK: Well, I don't know, what's in it for me? DF: Er…well, we are a very socially aware party compared with the Republicans and we were hoping you'd do it out of the goodness of your heart. RLK: What? You must be joking! No, tell me why I would want a Democrat Administration over a Republican one. I gave them a huge wad of cash before the last election and in return they promised not to ask me any awkward questions about my tax affairs. What do you think about that? DF: Well, our policies are very clear. We are going to squeeze the rich until their pips squeak and if we find any posh people trying to dodge their taxes we're going to lock them up and throw away the keys. RLK: I see. Well thank you for coming and good-bye (picks up phone) Cindy-Jane, have Security show this gentleman off the premises would you? Although some rich people are philanthropic and give large amounts to political parties expecting nothing in return, many are not, and are very unlikely to financially support a candidate who intended to make tax raids on their fortunes. That is why party funding should be capped, but that's a matter for another debate. However, in the meantime, governments have a moral duty to ensure that the working and middle classes do not pay more tax than they should because the social and political elite use their influence to ensure their own financial interests come first and foremost.