Is it forbidden to cheat in order to avoid paying taxes?
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The questioner : A questioner asks, saying: Is it forbidden to cheat in order to avoid paying taxes?
The Shaykh : Cheating is, without a doubt, not among the paths of the Shari'ah. On the other hand, if we see, as we mentioned in a previous session, that the original ruling in Islam is that taxes are not prescribed, it is nonetheless not permissible for a Muslim to take paths that contradict the established system if his doing so would be a stain on the religiously committed. That stain consequently transfers to the religion itself. Therefore, we do not see this method of escaping taxes as acceptable. As for the taxes themselves, they are originally injustice and the imposition of something that Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, has not prescribed. If a Muslim can escape them in a way that does not cause the religion, or at least the people of the religion, to be stained, then it is permissible; otherwise, it is not.
The Shaykh : Cheating is, without a doubt, not among the paths of the Shari'ah. On the other hand, if we see, as we mentioned in a previous session, that the original ruling in Islam is that taxes are not prescribed, it is nonetheless not permissible for a Muslim to take paths that contradict the established system if his doing so would be a stain on the religiously committed. That stain consequently transfers to the religion itself. Therefore, we do not see this method of escaping taxes as acceptable. As for the taxes themselves, they are originally injustice and the imposition of something that Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, has not prescribed. If a Muslim can escape them in a way that does not cause the religion, or at least the people of the religion, to be stained, then it is permissible; otherwise, it is not.