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Taxpayers Less Tolerant of Cheating

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Washington, D.C. (March 5, 2013)

By Jeff Stimpson

More than one in 10 Americans think it’s OK to cheat on their taxes -- but that’s one of the lowest percentages ever recorded, according to the 2012 Taxpayer Attitude Survey, which was just released by the IRS Oversight Board.

Among the findings of the survey, which was conducted late last summer with 1,500 American adults:

  • 95 percent of taxpayers indicated that “personal integrity” has the greatest influence on whether they honestly report and pay their taxes, but the influence of IRS audits and third-party information reporting appears to be growing.
  • 63 percent of taxpayers reported they were influenced by fear of an audit and 70 percent are influenced by third-party information reporting -- both of which indicate that their degree of influence may be growing in recent years.
  • 93 percent said it is important that return preparers meet competency standards.
  • 87 percent said it was “not at all acceptable” to cheat on income taxes. The share of taxpayers who expressed some tolerance for tax cheating (whether “a little here and there” or “as much as possible”) dropped to 11 percent in 2012, one of the lowest levels ever recorded in the survey .
  • 86 percent indicated they were likely to use the IRS Web site and 76 percent said they were likely to use e-mail to send questions directly to the IRS.
  • 82 percent said they were “very” or “somewhat” likely to use the IRS toll-free telephone service and 71 percent said they were likely to use an IRS walk-in office.
  • 76 percent of taxpayers were satisfied with their personal interaction with the IRS.
  • 67 percent felt the IRS should receive extra funding to assist more taxpayers.

2 Comments

To kmp: While it's nice to say that all should have "skin in the game", it would just raise what is necessary in so called "entitlements", which would be unnecessary if employers were not subsidized by the Government, so they can pay smaller, inadequate" wages.

It's a moving target. And with the little tax which would be collected, any cheating would not be worth much of anything.

And I'm sure those folks would rather pay a $100,000 in taxes when they would get to keep a $150,000. So much for those who complain. Just pay the low earners more and they will gladly pay "their taxes."

Posted by: tego@verizon.net | March 7, 2013 12:12 PM

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Of course the rate is increasing for those who believe it is not acceptable to cheat on taxes. The number of people who pay no tax is increasing, and since they pay no tax, they are very much opposed to anyone who does pay but cheats to prevent paying even more. These are the "more revenue" people who have no skin in the game, so they continually push for higher taxes because they know they will be exempt. This is why I think everyone should pay something, then when they call for more programs they will also have to participate in the funding. If you have to ante up too you may think twice before you call more more wasteful spending.

Posted by: kmp | March 6, 2013 1:35 PM

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