ATTITUDE TOWARD TAX EVASION IN BRAZIL, RUSSIA, INDIA AND CHINA (BRIC)

Robert W. McGEE
Ph.D. (Accounting, Taxation, Finance, Economics, Law, Philosophy, Political Science, Political Philosophy, Ethics, Economic History);
D.Sc. in Economics, D.Univ. in Public Finance, JD in Law, Professor (Fayetteville State University), USA
ORCID iD: orcid.org/0000-0001-6355-288X
bob414@hotmail.com

Yanira PETRIDES
Ph.D. (Accounting), Professor (Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico), Mexico
ORCID iD: orcid.org/0000-0003-0786-8921
yanira.petrides@itam.mx

Jiahua ZHOU
Ph.D. (Accounting and Information Systems), Assistant Professor (Fayetteville State University), USA
ORCID iD: orcid.org/0000-0003-4596-8413
jzhou@uncfsu.edu

UDC 159.9:336.228

DOI 10.31733/2786-491X-2022-2-70-84

Keywords: BRIC, tax evasion, tax morale, ethics, demographic variables.

Abstract. This study used World Values Survey data to learn the attitude toward tax evasion of sample populations in the four BRIC countries – Brazil, russia, India and China. The study found that more than 75 percent of the Chinese and Indian samples believed that tax evasion was never justifiable, compared to only 34 percent of the Russian sample. Overall, the Chinese were most opposed to tax evasion, followed by the Indians, the Brazilians and the russians. Gender was not a significant demographic variable. Older groups tended to be more averse to tax evasion than younger groups. Education was not a significant demographic variable in 75 percent of the cases, and when it was a significant demographic variable, no clear trend could be identified. Religion was not a significant variable for the Brazilian and Chinese samples.

The Indian sample found that Muslims were sometimes significantly less opposed to tax evasion than were other religions. In russia, those with no religion were significantly less opposed to tax evasion than were the Orthodox Christians. A trend analysis found that Brazilians, russians and Indians had become significantly less opposed to tax evasion over time. Although the Chinese views in 1991 and 2018 were about the same, in the interim period, they had become
less averse to tax evasion.

References

Adams, C. (1982). Fight, Flight and Fraud: The Story of Taxation. Curacao: Euro-Dutch Publishers.

Adams, C. (1993). For Good or Evil: The Impact of Taxes on the Course of Civilization. New York: Madison Books.

Bose, S. (2012). Hindu Ethical Considerations in Relation to Tax Evasion. In Robert W. McGee (Ed.). The Ethics of Tax Evasion: Perspectives in Theory and Practice (pp. 135-147). New York: Springer.

Cohn, G. (2012). The Traditional Jewish View of Paying Taxes. In McGee, Robert W. (Ed.). The Ethics of Tax Evasion: Perspectives in Theory and Practice. (pp. 149-158). New York: Springer.

Collymore, A. (2020). The Ethics of Tax Evasion: A Study of Opinion in the United Kingdom. Journal of Accounting, Ethics & Public Policy, 21(2), pp. 201-245.

Crowe, M.T. (1944). The Moral Obligation of Paying Just Taxes. The Catholic University of America Studies in Sacred Theology No. 84.

Delacre, M., Lakens, D. & Leys, C. (2017). Why Psychologists Should by Default Use Welch's t-test Instead of Student's t-test. International Review of Social Psychology, 30(1), pp. 92-101. Doi : https://doi.org/10.5334/irsp.82

DeMoville, W. (1998). The Ethics of Tax Evasion: A Baha’i Perspective. In Robert W. McGee (Ed.), The Ethics of Tax Evasion, pp. 230-240. Dumont, NJ: The Dumont Institute for Public Policy Research.

Derrick, B., Toher, D. & White, P. (2016). Why Welch’s test is Type I error robust. The Quantitative Methods for Psychology, 12(1), pp. 30-38.

Drogalas, G., Anagnostopoulou, E., Pazarskis, M. & Petkopoulos, D. (2018). Tax Ethics and Tax Evasion, Evidence from Greece. Theoretical Economics Letters, 8, pp. 1018-1027.
Gronbacher, G. (1998). Taxation: Catholic Social Thought and Classical Liberalism. In Robert W. McGee (Ed.), The Ethics of Tax Evasion, pp. 158-167. Dumont, NJ: The Dumont Institute for Public Policy Research.

Haerpfer, C., Inglehart, R., Moreno, A., Welzel, C., Kizilova, K., Diez-Medrano J., Lagos, P. Norris, E. Ponarin & B. Puranen et al. (eds.). (2020). World Values Survey: Round Seven – Country-Pooled Datafile. Madrid, Spain & Vienna, Austria: JD Systems Institute & WVSA Secretariat. URL : http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/WVSDocumentation WV7.jsp.

Jalili, A. (2012). The Ethics of Tax Evasion: An Islamic Perspective. In Robert W. McGee (Ed.). The Ethics of Tax Evasion: Perspectives in Theory and Practice, pp. 167-199. New York: Springer.

Kandri, E. & Mamuti, A. (2019). Ethics of Tax Evasion: The Case of Albania. In Agim Mamuti, Tax Evasion as a Crime: A Study of Perception in Selected Countries, pp. 12-18. Mauritius: Lambert Academic Publishing.

McGee, R. (1998). The Ethics of Tax Evasion in Islam. In Robert W. McGee (Ed.), The Ethics of Tax Evasion, pp. 214-219. Dumont, NJ: The Dumont Institute for Public Policy Research.

McGee, R. (2004). Tax Evasion in Islam. In Robert W. McGee, The Philosophy of Taxation and Public Finance, pp. 67-71. Boston, Dordrecht & London: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

McGee, R. (2006). Three Views on the Ethics of Tax Evasion. Journal of Business Ethics, 67(1), pp. 15-35.

McGee, R. (2012a). Four Views on the Ethics of Tax Evasion. In Robert W. McGee (Ed.), The Ethics of Tax Evasion: Perspectives in Theory and Practice, pp. 3-33. New York: Springer.

McGee, R. (2012b). Annotated Bibliography: 18 Statement Surveys. In Robert W. McGee (Ed.), The Ethics of Tax Evasion: Perspectives in Theory and Practice, pp. 499-598. New York: Springer.

McGee, R. (2012c). The Ethics of Tax Evasion: Perspectives in Theory and Practice. New York: Springer.

McGee, R. (2012d). Gender and the Ethics of Tax Evasion: An Empirical Study of 82 Countries. In Robert W. McGee (Ed.), The Ethics of Tax Evasion: Perspectives in Theory and Practice, pp. 415-439. New York: Springer.

McGee, R. (2012e). Age and the Ethics of Tax Evasion: An Empirical Study of 82 Countries.

In Robert W. McGee (Ed.), The Ethics of Tax Evasion: Perspectives in Theory and Practice, pp. 441-449. New York: Springer.

McGee, R. (2012f). Education Level and the Ethics of Tax Evasion: An Empirical Study of 82 Countries. In Robert W. McGee (Ed.), The Ethics of Tax Evasion: Perspectives in Theory and Practice, pp. 451-457. New York: Springer.

McGee, R. (2012f). The Ethics of Tax Evasion in Islam: A Comment. In Robert W. McGee (Ed.), The Ethics of Tax Evasion: Perspectives in Theory and Practice, pp. 159-165. New York: Springer.

McGee, R. (2012g). Christian Views on the Ethics of Tax Evasion. In Robert W. McGee (Ed.), The Ethics of Tax Evasion: Perspectives in Theory and Practice, pp. 201-210. New York: Springer.

McGee, R. (2023). How People Justify Tax Evasion: Summaries of 70+ Studies. Working Paper.

McGee, R. & Benk, S. (Eds.) (2023a). The Ethics of Bribery: Theoretical and Empirical Studies. Switzerland: Springer.

McGee, R. & Benk, S. (Eds.) (2023b). The Ethics of Bribery: Country Studies. Switzerland: Springer.

McGee, R. & Lingle, C. (2008). The Ethics of Tax Evasion: A Survey of Guatemalan Opinion, in Robert W. McGee (Ed.), Taxation and Public Finance in Transition and Developing Economies, pp. 481-495. New York: Springer.

McGee, R. W. & Rossi, M. (2008). A Survey of Argentina on the Ethics of Tax Evasion. In Robert W. McGee (Ed.), Taxation and Public Finance in Transition and Developing Economies, pp. 239-261. New York: Springer.

McGee, R. & Shopovski, J. (Eds.) (2023a). The Ethics of Tax Evasion, Volume 2: New Perspectives in Theory and Practice. Switzerland: Springer.

McGee, R. & Shopovski, J. (Eds.) (2023b). The Ethics of Tax Evasion: Country Studies. Switzerland: Springer.

McGee, R., Shopovski, J. & Bolek, M. (2023a). Attitudes toward Tax Evasion in Sweden. In Robert W. McGee & Jovan Shopovski (Eds.), The Ethics of Tax Evasion: Country Studies. Switzerland: Springer.

McGee, R., Shopovski, J. & Bolek, M. (2023b). Attitudes toward Tax Evasion in the United States. In Robert W. McGee & Jovan Shopovski (Eds.), The Ethics of Tax Evasion: Country Studies. Switzerland: Springer.

Murtuza, Athar and Ghazanfar, S. (1998). Taxation as a Form of Worship: Exploring the Nature of Zakat. In Robert W. McGee (Ed.), The Ethics of Tax Evasion (pp. 190-212). Dumont, NJ: The Dumont Institute for Public Policy Research.

Pardisi, A. & McGee, R. (2023a). Attitudes toward Tax Evasion in Australia. In Robert W. McGee & Jovan Shopovski (Eds.), The Ethics of Tax Evasion: Country Studies. Switzerland: Springer.

Pardisi, A. & McGee, R. (2023b). Attitudes toward Tax Evasion in New Zealand. In Robert W. McGee & Jovan Shopovski (Eds.), The Ethics of Tax Evasion: Country Studies. Switzerland: Springer.

Pardisi, A. & McGee, R. (2023c). Gender and Attitudes toward Tax Evasion. In Robert W. McGee & Jovan Shopovski (Eds.), The Ethics of Tax Evasion: Country Studies. Switzerland: Springer.

Pardisi, A. & McGee, R. (2023d). Age and Attitudes toward Tax Evasion. In Robert W. McGee & Jovan Shopovski (Eds.), The Ethics of Tax Evasion: Country Studies. Switzerland: Springer.

Pardisi, A. & McGee, R. (2023e). Education Level and Attitudes toward Tax Evasion. In Robert W. McGee & Jovan Shopovski (Eds.), The Ethics of Tax Evasion: Country Studies. Switzerland: Springer.

Pennock, R. (1998). Death and Taxes: On the Justice of Conscientious War Tax Resistance. In Robert W. McGee (Ed.), The Ethics of Tax Evasion, pp. 124-142. Dumont, NJ: The Dumont Institute for Public Policy Research.

Ruxton, G. (2006). The unequal variance t-test is an underused alternative to Student’s ttest and the Mann-Whitney U test. Behavioral Ecology, 17(4), pp. 688-690. Doi : https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/ark016

Schansberg, D. (1998). The Ethics of Tax Evasion Within Biblical Christianity: Are There Limits to “Rendering Unto Caesar?” In Robert W. McGee (Ed.), The Ethics of Tax Evasion, pp. 144-157. Dumont, NJ: The Dumont Institute for Public Policy Research.

Smatrakalev, G. (1998). Walking on the Edge: Bulgaria and the Transition to a Market Economy. In Robert W. McGee (Ed.), The Ethics of Tax Evasion, pp. 316-329. Dumont, NJ: The Dumont Institute for Public Policy Research.

Smith, S. & Kimball, K. (1998). Tax Evasion and Ethics: A Perspective from Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. In Robert W. McGee (Ed.), The Ethics of Tax Evasion, pp. 220-229. Dumont, NJ: The Dumont Institute for Public Policy Research.

Tamari, M. (1998). Ethical Issues in Tax Evasion: A Jewish Perspective. In Robert W. McGee (Ed.), The Ethics of Tax Evasion, pp. 168-178. Dumont, NJ: The Dumont Institute for Public Policy Research.

Tarekegn, M. (2015). Ethics of Tax Evasion: Evidence from Self-employed Tax-payers’ of Dessie Town Administration, Ethiopia, Universal Journal of Accounting and Finance, 3(5), pp. 153-170.

Torgler, B. (2003). Tax Morale in Transition Countries. Post-Communist Economies, 15(3), pp. 357-381.

Torgler, B. & Schaltegger, C. (2006). Tax Morale: A Survey with a Special Focus on Switzerland. Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Volkswirtschaft und Statistik, 142(3), pp. 395-425.

Torgler, B. & Schneider, F. (2005). Attitude toward Paying Taxes in Austria: An Empirical Analysis. Empirica, 32, pp. 231-250.

Vaguine, V. (1998). The “Shadow Economy” and Tax Evasion in russia. In Robert W. McGee (Ed.), The Ethics of Tax Evasion, pp. 306-314. Dumont, NJ: The Dumont Institute for Public Policy Research.

World Values Survey. (2022). URL : https://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/.