about ten percent. If you are audited
and you are found to be fraudulent
you pay back taxes plus about 75
percent. So the expected cost of
getting caught is just not that large.
The calculus is tilted very, very
heavily in favor of cheating.So why don’t Americans cheat?
Because they think that their system is
legitimate. People accept authority
when they see that it treats everyone
equally, when it is possible to speak up
and be heard, and when there are rules
in place that assure you that tomorrow
you won’t be treated radically different
from how you are treated today.