Of course. I'm not advocating that. But I do think most people assume there's not much you can do, aside from paying up. Getting a decent understanding of basic tax law pays itself back over the years.

I've met self employed people who don't even understand the difference between salary, corporate tax and dividends.

> who don't even understand

That's below the competence of an H&R block adviser. Having basic minimal competence is of course a good idea. But, the risk vs. reward from messing with your taxes is capped at a fraction of your income so there are generally far better risks to take.