38% Cheat on Taxes, Study Estimates

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — About 38% of the 100 million Americans who file income tax returns by midnight Tuesday will have cheated on those forms, a Colorado State University business professor said Saturday.

Based on a study of 200 taxpayers in several states, Peggy Hite concluded the most likely cheater is a male, blue-collar or unskilled worker under age 35 with a negative attitude toward taxes. She said that profile fits 81% of tax evaders.

Hite said 48% of the business entrepreneurs surveyed admitted cheating on previous tax returns.

Hite said many Americans “think it’s only right that they should get as much as they can from the Internal Revenue Service because they feel like they aren’t getting too many benefits back from the government.”