That’s more or less the answer that I would have expected but it’s hard then to understand some of the answers given earlier in this thread. Of course, given the practical constraints that you correctly cite, there is a difference between saying it’s ok in theory and saying it’s ok in a particular situation.
That is, I think, an important subject for discussion. What you left unaswered is how to go about balancing the risk/reward and making a good decision. The risk is pretty low for the poor, it’s hardly worth the the tax collector’s time and effort to chase them down. So, at a minimum, this seems like a good anti-poverty policy.
Now this does bring us back to the question I raised here and especially in the ethics thread Can there be honor among thieves?. Operating in an underground economy requires, at a minimum, being dishonest toward the government.
How to balance risk/reward and making a good decision? It’s like any other decision an objectivist makes. It involves a comprehensive analysis of the situation.
Which posts are you referring to? I don’t remember posting in this thread before.