How dying Orwell avoided the clutches of the taxman

The Daily Telegraph (UK) ^ | 30th September, 2005 | Ben Fenton

[goldstategop]

Any father would do the same for his son. Its the state that acted counter to human nature by seeking to deprive his family of the means to sustain its livelihood.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[tet68]

in this case he was being quite naïve because I don't think if he had really understood what was going on that he would have really approved of a scheme that cheated the state of income."

Oh, I think he understood all too well!

[liberallarry]

One wonders whether, if he'd lived longer, he would have modified his socialist views or become a limousine liberal. Since he was staunchly anti-communist and a very bright man it's impossible to say.

[goldstategop]

By the end of his life Orwell was no longer a socialist and understood all too well where Labour's policies would lead to. It begins by punishing success. Isn't that what we've been told - socialism is really about mandating equality of misery? Orwell was astute enough not wish that fate upon his own family.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Orwell went slumming in his youth in Paris and elsewhere, literally becoming a bum to gain "Experience" as a writer. Although he was a socialist, he was also very anti-Stalin, unlike H.G. Wells.

[goldstategop]

If you read his last books, its clear his views had changed significantly. I don't think he would have written books critical of Stalin's Russia if he still felt socialism was the last best hope of mankind. Quite simply, he was a prophet ahead of his time.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[goldstategop]

He once was a staunch socialist but grew disillusioned with the doctrine. And the anti-wealth policies of the U.K new Labour Government certainly didn't endear him to continue favoring it. He had a reality check about what the pursuit of extreme equality really meant and the lesson hit close to home in its impact upon his own family.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[avg_freeper]

"I would defend the man to the death, but I think in this case he was being quite naïve because I don't think if he had really understood what was going on that he would have really approved of a scheme that cheated the state of income."

Yes, we all bellyfeel it was Big Brother's to begin with. And saving this money for others is ungood.

Be a goodthinker.

[muawiyah]

Orwell obviously was not cheating anyone of anything. It was his money and his accountants appear to have worked well within the law. Besides, a fellow dieing of tuberculosis in 1950 could hardly be faulted for failing to anticipate sales of his writings in 1970.

[goldstategop]

Socialism sounds lovely in theory but is utterly unworkable in practice. Name one socialist society that has made its people freer and happier. People didn't see that in the 30s and 40s but in this century there's no excuse. The sad thing is there are people in America who want to inflict that failure upon this country. It would be a human tragedy of colossal proportions.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[goldstategop]

And I take exception to the notion your earnings belong to the government. For certain politicians, your merely being rich is a crime. And here is where there's a sickening double standard: its okay for them to be rich but heaven forbid if you do make into the top income bracket. You're looked upon as a criminal and your hard work has earned you the perverse presumption that it needs to be taken away from you for the "common good." The logic here is if you have too good a life then no one should have a life as good as yours.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[TomSmedley]

I believe the Spanish civil war was his wake-up call. More reds died at the hands of other reds in that conflict than from the guns of Franco's troops. This context was also the origin of the term "political correctness." Being a politically incorrect member of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade's side was a capital offense.

[goldstategop]

Yes... if socialism is about brotherhood, I think that's where Orwell's doubts about it were planted so to speak. It didn't seem like people where fighting for the things they claimed to care about. It wasn't the Franco fascists who defeated the Left insomuch as the fact the Left turned on itself.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[avg_freeper]

Socialism is a scavenging parasite. First it destroys a society from within. Then it feeds on it's rotting corpse.

All it's proponents know that Socialism is doomed to failure. They're there to profit off the collapse. That's the cycle that Marx wrote about, order and revolution.

It's the sick nihilistic belief that it's better to live in a stagnant cycle of upheaval than to leave the people alone and let society naturally advance.

[MarkL]

DAMN! I was hoping that he had found a way to take it with him!

Mark

[Captain Rhino]

Those Freepers of a historical bent may recall that General (and later President) Grant literally spent the last days of his life completing his memoirs while dying of throat cancer (thereby securing the financial future of his wife and son).

Of course, his estate did not have to face the Inland Revenue's American cousin, the IRS, since it didn't exist at the time.

[avg_freeper]

I kinda went apostrophe happy on the its there.

[jocon307]

"...his accountants appear to have worked well within the law. "

Yes, they did a good job for him and his estate. Good for them. I must say that 1984 is one of the best books I ever read, I found it absolutely chilling, it scared the heck out of me and I don't think you could pay me to read it again. My daughter, no big reader by any means, also thought it was excellent, but she's a lot more cold-blooded than I am and has actually read it twice (for school, of course, both times).

I guess I should really read Animal Farm. Orwell is a fine writer, I very much have enjoyed everything I've read of his. Just a very good, very clear, style.

Good for him for giving the taxman as little as possible, it's as much as they ever deserve.

[goldstategop]

Yes. Here in liberal California, we repealed the state death tax in 1982... so I'm not left completely penniless. My estate is under a million dollars, so I don't owe federal estate taxes. Whatever nut thought the IRS deserved to take 55% of a dying man's assets invented the most infernal scheme known to the human race. No wonder people to this day still figure out how they can cheat the IRS and leave their inheritance to their heirs.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)