Calling a spade a spade

I often think that schools should teach students that there is no such thing as a victimless crime. One would think that people are capable of working that out for themselves but clearly that is not the case. It is unbelievable how many people think that when they steal from the State it is not really stealing because they are not physically ripping cash out of their victim's hands.

In our society we have many fine, upstanding people who would never dream of shoplifting or picking someone's pocket, but who have no problem evading tax or rigging their electricity bill. Because that's not stealing, is it?

The problem is a wide-ranging one and goes beyond mere benefit fraud or tax evasion. We are a small country with limited resources that need to be shared between the half million or so souls that live on this rock. So ultimately anyone who appropriates more than his or her fair share of said resources, particularly when this is done in defiance of regulations or laws, is ultimately stealing from the rest of us.

Let us have the courage to call a spade a spade. These people are thieves.

When people put a magnet on their electricity meter or slide a sheet of plastic into the meter to stop it recording usage, they are stealing. The same applies to tampering with "smart" meters.

When people claim unemployment benefits but have a job on the side, they are stealing.

When they claim not to have a partner who contributes to their children's maintenance but are actually living with someone, they are stealing.

When they build a room on public land and treat it like their private property, they are stealing.

When they get a plasterer/plumber/tradesman of any kind and agree to pay for a job without paying VAT, they are stealing.

When they collect medicines that they are entitled to but do not actually use, they are stealing.

When they do not declare their income and do not pay income tax, they are stealing.

When they cook the books and under-declare their business profits, they are stealing.

I can give several more examples but I am sure that you get the drift. Each and every one of us has, at some point in time, had to make a choice about some such issue or other and it is likely that many of us succumbed to the convenient thought that such things are relative.

However I ask you this. If someone steals €500 from a cash register at work are they any more culpable than someone who under declares his income and "saves" €500 in income tax? It may be convenient for some of us to think that they are, but the truth is that in both cases, the perpetrators are taking something that does not belong to them.

I also extend this argument to the use of common resources such as ground water. When people pump up groundwater like there is no tomorrow, they reason that they are not damaging anyone because the water does not belong to anyone. However this is a false logic because ultimately Malta's groundwater is a resource that belongs to us all.

It is upsetting to think that we live in a country that could be a little piece of heaven if only people were not so greedy. There is enough to go round, if only some people did not try to hog it all. I realise that this is a utopic thought, but surely expecting people to pay their taxes and not abuse benefits should not be too much to ask?

At this point unfortunately, the only way forward is stricter policing. There is rampant abuse in many different areas and the only way to stamp it out is to weed out the perpetrators and make them pay. The message must be that crime, including tax evasion and benefit fraud, does not pay.

Maybe we will then be able to live in a society where people call it what it is. Theft.