Wednesday, March 08, 2006

IRS: Cheaters Never Win in Public Opinion

An IRS Oversight Board annual survey for 2005 indicates that tax compliance has reached new highs in popularity for the seven-year period surveyed. 88% (about seven of eight) consider cheating on income taxes unacceptable (vs. 86% the year before). 30% would be willing to turn in tax cheats, vs. 24% the year before. The survey also found support for greater IRS funding; 67% favored extra funding for customer service and 63% favored extra enforcement spending. The one (slightly) down note, satisfaction with interactions with IRS, though at 78%, was slightly down from 2004.

Probably the biggest surprise to me was the willingness of those surveyed to turn in tax cheats; in general, society seems to be very opposed to "snitching." Call me a cynic, but I think that there may be either a bias or a NIMBY effect as well on tax compliance; this level of support for tax compliance does not easily square with the tax gap numbers which have been in the news recently.

1 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

I concur. I know I won't and wouldn't want to snitch on a friend.

For so many reasons, being accused as a snitch would be bad enough. Family and friends would look at you with distruss from that day going forward.

4:24 PM  

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