Business without conscience

Having read Michael West’s “Getting down to farce tax” (May 13-19) I would like to bring into question the concept of corporate and individual ethics. How can these businesses and individuals justify, through what could be called “creative accounting”, amassing huge revenues in this country but paying virtually no tax in this country? Is this the subject of backslapping around the boardroom table – how clever we’ve been and how we deserve a nice fat bonus? No one is doubting the legality (perhaps in most cases) of these practices. But the people in these entities are enjoying the health and education systems, the roads and other infrastructure and services funded from the public purse to which they make no contribution. How do they sleep at night? I challenge anyone associated with this morally bankrupt practice to justify how they can live in Australia but make very little contribution to the lifestyle they undoubtedly enjoy.

– Ramon Jones, Carcoar, NSW