ABSTRACT

This chapter sheds some light on the development of taxation terminology in relation to evasion and avoidance. It considers especially the mid to late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as these appear to have been key periods in establishing a distinction whereby evasion came to denote a type of illegal activity and avoidance a legal activity. It is suggested that what drove the development of dualistic terminology, with specific legal meanings, was the need to separate out from evasion various activities, transactions, schemes and devices that might be different therefrom, but related. This development stemmed from normal usage of the word avoidance, but subsequently displayed a semantic shift or shortcut into the meaning of the term as we understand it today. The chapter also considers possible reasons for the distinction arising and looks at contemporaneous source material such as government documents, case law reports and newspapers for further illumination.