# "Pay unto Caesar what is Caesar's"



## RichInSpirit (28 Sep 2018)

"Pay unto Caesar what is Caesar's" is a quote from the Bible (maybe not exact) about paying your Tax.
Caesar in the modern context is the Government of the day or in a wider context everyone in the state.
People hate paying tax and try all sorts of scheme's at evasion or avoidance. But sometimes people tie themselves in terrible knots just for the sake of avoiding paying tax.
For example sole traders borrow to the hilt to save tax but instead have to pay back huge loans. Which puts them under large burdens and risk from changes to their income. And their businesses must always "grow" in this sort of a scenario which brings more problems.
And I suppose this line of thought came from reading all the pension threads on Askaboutmoney at the moment. It's great saving tax through paying into pensions but there is a risk that you may not be around to benefit from them at the far end. In which case "Caesar" or someone else will benefit from your hard work anyway.
It's a bit of a balancing act.


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## T McGibney (28 Sep 2018)

RichInSpirit said:


> "Pay unto Caesar what is Caesar's" is a quote from the Bible (maybe not exact) about paying your Tax.
> Caesar in the modern context is the Government of the day or in a wider context everyone in the state.
> People hate paying tax and try all sorts of scheme's at evasion or avoidance. But sometimes people tie themselves in terrible knots just for the sake of avoiding paying tax.
> *For example sole traders borrow to the hilt to save tax but instead have to pay back huge loans. *Which puts them under large burdens and risk from changes to their income. And their businesses must always "grow" in this sort of a scenario which brings more problems.
> ...



Struggling to detect a point here. The bit I've highlighted isn't at all reflected by my own experience of 30 years.  Put simply, there's no coherent means of saving tax by borrowing for the sake of it, although you'll hear otherwise on barstools.


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