Kozlowski’s motivation for trying to avoid sales tax on his art purchases were (1) his materialistic desires, and (2) his avoidance of raising a red flag on his illegal activities at Tyco.
Kozlowski’s materialistic desires pointed to greed for financial or material gains. These desires led him to commit illegal financial transactions at Tyco. This case shows that Kozlowski had a history of tax evasion that goes even years before investigations started. Thus, he has a history of prioritizing materialistic gains over ethical conduct.
Also, Kozlowski tried to avoid paying sales taxes for his art purchases because doing so would raise red flags for authorities. Sales taxes create formal records of financial transactions. In Tyco’s case, the sales taxes amounted to millions because the purchased art items were expensive. It would have been easier for authorities to detect Kozlowski’s illegal financial transactions because it was unusual for Tyco officers like Kozlowski to make such big purchases in a small amount of time.