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Poll: I'm honest, you're a tax cheat
By Bankrate.com
 Did
you cheat on your taxes? You say you didn't, but half your neighbors
may think you did.
A survey commissioned by Bankrate.com found that,
on average, Americans believe that about half of taxpayers have
at some time tweaked the tax truth on their 1040s.
Of course, the overwhelming majority of the 1,025
people who responded to the national survey by RoperASW said they
weren't among the tax cheats. Only 13 percent of them said they
"fudged" the truth on their taxes to deprive the Internal
Revenue Service of its full due.
Self-proclaimed honesty and cynicism about fellow
citizens are spread equally throughout the United States. Both genders,
all ages and all incomes, in all regions of the country, were strikingly
similar in their answers. But there were a few differences.
- Women were slightly more likely to say they were
honest: 88 percent said "no" when asked if they ever
fudged their taxes, compared to 83 percent of men.
- Those 50-64 years of age are much more likely than
their younger (18-49 years old) and older (65+ years old) counterparts
to admit that they personally have ever "fudged" their
taxes. About 23 percent of the 50 to 64-year-olds said "yes,"
they had at some time done some tax-time fudging.
- One in four believe at least 70 percent of Americans
have done this at some point.
Does this mean that some filers really do take Uncle
Sam for more of a ride at tax time, or are some people just more
honest about it? That's a question for another poll.
Here's what we asked:
1. "What percentage of people do you
think have ever 'fudged' the truth, even a little bit, on their
taxes -- by doing things such as overstating how much money they
donated to charity?"
The mean answer: 49 percent
2. "What about you personally, have
you ever 'fudged' the truth even a little bit on your taxes --
again, by doing things such as overstating how much money you
donated to charity?"
The answers: Yes, 13 percent; no, 86 percent. The
remainder didn't know or declined to answer.
The survey was conducted April 11-13 and has a 95
percent confidence level and a margin of error of plus or minus
3 percentage points.
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