Tax Ethics and Taxpayer Attitudes: A Survey

Politically and economically, few matters are as important as the taxes people pay to their government. Justice Holmes once described taxes as a mark of the privilege of citizenship in a civilized society, but for most of us it is an unwelcomed burden to be endured. Remote and intangible governmental benefits, vast as they may be, are less likely to be appreciated than the immediate benefits individuals receive for their money in the private market. The issue of the tyranny of taxation without representation provided a significant momentum for the political movement which led to the Declaration of Independence and subsequent formation of the union. The revoluntionaries of the day, with diverse regional, economic, and political backgrounds, were united in their opposition to the new taxes which the British Parliament attempted to impose on the colonies. Two hundred years of population growth accompanied by industrialization, urbanization, and wars have produced crushing tax burdens at a time when the nation and its people are suffering from both high unemployment and high inflation. Randy Hamilton, past president of the American Society for Public Administration, warned the Society's members that as the nation's tax burden approaches 35 per cent of the Gross National Product, the United States should anticipate the same sort of massive taxpayer revolt now being experienced in certain European countries.' The complexities of the tax laws, which leave even the better educated taxpayer confused and bewildered, have added insult to injury. Economists have long been exploring various economic aspects of taxation, including tolerable and maximum levels of taxation; its effects on price stability, economic growth, and unemployment; and the distribution of tax burdens among various groups of taxpayers. This study, on the other hand, is an attempt to explore the tax attitudes of the people who pay taxes to government-directly or indirectly, knowingly or, in some cases, unknowingly. Abstract economic analyses are undoubtedly important to an understanding of tax systems, but of equal importance in a democratic system is the taxpayer's perception, evaluation and compliance with the tax laws.