Ethics and Tax Evasion: A Survey of South African Opinion
21 Pages Posted: 15 Apr 2014
Date Written: April 14, 2014
Abstract
Most studies of tax evasion take an economic or public finance perspective. Not much has been written from a philosophical or ethical viewpoint. That is probably because most economists are utilitarians and most lawyers are legalists. However, there is a small body of literature that addresses tax evasion issues from a philosophical or theological perspective. The present study is intended to add to that small body of literature while forming a bridge to the public finance literature as well.
The authors developed a survey instrument that included eighteen (18) statements incorporating the three major views on the ethics of tax evasion that have emerged in the literature over the last 500 years. Each statement began “Tax evasion is ethical if ….” The remainder of each statement included one of the 18 justifications for tax evasion that have been given in the theological and philosophical literature over the last five centuries.
The purpose of the survey was to determine the relative strength or weakness of each of the historical arguments as well as to determine whether opinions differed by demographics. The survey was distributed to groups of management, economics and finance students at a South African university. This paper reports on the results of that survey.
Keywords: tax evasion, ethics, South Africa, empirical studies, gender, age, ethnicity, religion, academic status
JEL Classification: H24, H26, D63, M4, K14, K34, J1, J12, J14, J16, Z14
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
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