&gt;Is that because you believe you pay too much tax?<p>If I pay more than I&#x27;m required to by law then I pay too much by definition.<p>&gt;Wouldn&#x27;t it be better if the loopholes were fixed but there was a reduction in tax charged too?<p>Of course this would be better and ideal. But it&#x27;s a curious things with politicians. New taxes come easily. But they seldom leave voluntarily.<p>We&#x27;re still having an extra tax on sparkling wine here in Germany. It was introduced in 1901 to finance the German Imperial Navy to rival the British Empire [1] ...<p>&gt;Tax evasion ends up pushing up taxes for everyone else, it&#x27;s not your government that you&#x27;re short changing<p>Yes, but I&#x27;m not talking about evasion. Evasion would be illegally saying &quot;I earned nothing&quot; and hiding the money. Tax optimizaton by out-smarting the system is legal though.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;de.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Schaumweinsteuer" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;de.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Schaumweinsteuer</a> (German)