I’d also be charmed if you could include your annual insurance costs (which we pay in Canada and Slovakia). The only difference is that medical costs to the state here are five to ten times smaller than what the hospitals and doctors in the US charge to insurance companies and to individuals who aren’t insured.

In Richard Branson’s autobiography Losing my Viriginity, he says he will never break the law after getting caught moving records out of England to France and back to avoid paying VAT. “Never worth the stress,” says Branson.

Something else to consider is that if the sum is small enough few bureaucrats want to take the time to investigate it in the first place. Bigger fish to fry. But you leave yourself open to extortion – they just have to decide when to apply the pincers.

In your place, I’d pay the right taxes, but making sure that I didn’t miss any eligible deductions.