VIEWS ON THE ETHICS OF TAX EVASION: An Empirical Study of 37 Countries

Abstract

Using data that was gathered as part of a much larger study on human beliefs and values, the present study examines the opinions on the ethics of tax evasion that were gathered from a wide demographic of respondents in 37 countries. The sample size was 50,618. Comparisons are made between the responses from each country. Comparisons are also made by gender in an attempt to determine whether these factors have any effect on ethical attitudes. The survey found that women were significantly more opposed to tax evasion in 48.6 percent of the countries surveyed; men were not significantly more opposed to tax evasion in any of the 37 countries.