Taxtopia by The Rebel Accountant

Welcome to Halfman, Halfbook for my stop on the Blog Tour for Taxtopia by The Rebel Accountant and published by Monoray.

About the Book

The Rebel Accountant has broken ranks to share his journey from clueless naïf to skilled tax consultant – and in doing so blows the lid on the murky world of making the tax burdens of the ultra-wealthy disappear. In the topsy-turvy world of tax avoidance, you can get richer by buying a yacht, the world’s biggest exporter of coffee is Switzerland, and billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Donald Trump and the Duke of Westminster often pay less tax than you do.
Written with sharp wit and over-brimming with inside secrets, the anonymous author shows us that not only does the global tax system encourage dubious practice which favours the rich, but that it was specifically founded with that in mind.
If you suspect that tax is a rigged game, a con, designed to fleece the little guy, you are about to find out just how shockingly true that really is.

About the Author

No one knows the true identity of THE REBEL ACCOUNTANT… But we do know he’s a chartered tax advisor who has worked widely behind the scenes in London and Australia, everywhere from major accountancy firms to tiny start-ups. He chose his career because he loves to be creative.

My Review

Tax is one of those things that I have paid since I started working many many years ago. Every month without fail the PAYE pops its head up and snaffles a chuck of the money that I have earnt that month. I am not unhappy about it, it has after all paid for my three children to be educated at minimal cost to me, pays for the roads that I drive on and paid for the ongoing treatment that Sarah has had for cancer.

It is something that I am happy to pay for as I know that it has wider benefits for society as well as myself. There are a number of people though who want to enjoy similar benefits as I do. These people are often wealthy and regardless of the way that they have accumulated their money, do not want to be encumbered with taxation. If they are in that tiny group of people who are so mind-bogglingly rich that they are often very reluctant to part with any of their money at all.

The Rebel Accountant has been one of the professionals who has helped this class of people evade and avoid anything that looks like a tax. So much so that someone with vast sums can often pay much less tax than you do in a year. They do this in several ways, firstly by employing clever people to find the loopholes that in the extremely complex tax systems, secondly but just not bothering and most infuriatingly, they gamed the systems to ensure that the people who have to pay taxes are you and me and not them.

I think that was his intention for those reading this book to be made very angry. And having read it I can confirm that it does. The entire taxation system is utterly broken and it isn’t helped by the endemic corruption of our political system that helps those with money get more and keep more. This will be at the expense of our society too if steps are not taken to address it. Even given the subject matter, it is quite an entertaining read; he is that rarest of people, an accountant with a bone-dry sense of humour. There was never a point when he ventured into the arcane depth of tax law, rather it was kept at a level that almost everyone would be able to understand. Don’t read this and weep, read this and start to put pressure on our political leaders.

Don’t forget to visit the other blogs on the blog tour

Buy this at your local independent bookshop. If you’re not sure where your nearest is then you can find one here

My thanks to Anne Cater of Random Tours for the copy of the book to read.