Socialists living under the oppression of capitalism should avoid paying taxes.

The vast majority of public expenditure in a capitalist country such as the United Kingdom is spent on public services such as health, education and social security, which disproportionately benefits socially and economically disadvantaged members of society. (1) Since it is the interests of this section of society that socialists are most concerned in advancing, and these public services are mainly financed through taxation, it might seem logical that a socialist would be insistent that all economically active members of society pay their taxes in full. However, I propose that the contrary is actually the case. My contention is that a true socialist would reject the current demeaning system of state benefits, that rob deprived members of society of their dignity by forcing claimants to effectively beg for means-tested state handouts and, instead, strive to create a socialist state where public services are provided according to need rather than ability to pay. The Socialist Worker Party's stance is: "The present system cannot be patched up — it has to be completely transformed. The structures of the parliament, army, police and judiciary cannot be taken over and used by the working people. Elections can be used to agitate for real improvements in people's lives and to expose the system we live under, but only the mass action of workers themselves can change the system." (2) The current state benefit system is used by supposedly left-leaning political organisations such as the British Labour Party to legitimise semi-democratic capitalist governments. On the subject of the universal healthcare provided in Britain (the National Health Service (NHS)) the Labour-controlled government says: "The NHS is the Labour Party's greatest achievement. We created it, we saved it, we value it and we will always support it. Over Labour's 11 years in government, substantial and sustained investment in the NHS backed by vital reforms have transformed the service." (3) I submit that socialists, even those that have an income well above the national average, have a duty to avoid paying taxes because that income helps keep laissez-faire regimes in power by enabling the government to provide half-baked public services, which deceive the public into believing that there is no viable alternative to "compassionate capitalism". By withholding tax payments, and encouraging others to do likewise, the socialist movement can severely weaken the public finances and thus the social institutions they fund. This will, in time, create mass unrest amongst the proletariat, particularly amongst the most deprived citizens, subsequently creating the conditions necessary for a popular uprising and a revolution that will be successful in overthrowing the present capitalist regimes and replacing them with socialist governments that truly care for the welfare of decent, hard-working comrades and their dependents. Pending such a coup d'ï¿½tat, however, charges lodged against socialists accused of tax evasion should be considered politically motivated and those socialists who receive custodial sentences for failing to pay taxes should be considered political prisoners, and should be released in accordance with international law. (4) (1) http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk... (2) http://www.swp.org.uk... (3) http://www.labour.org.uk... (4) http://www.hrweb.org...