Crime of tax evasion : a survey of its perception in Yemen

الملخص EN

This paper measures the perception of Yemeni citizens of the severity of tax evasion relative to other crimes and violations.

The main objectives of this study are: (1) to examine the level of the seriousness of tax evasion compared to other offences; (2) to determine whether there is a significant differences in the seriousness of tax evasion between victim and victimless of offences; and (3) to investigate the influence of the demographic variables, namely; age, gender, marital status, education, source of income, occupation, level of income and tax return preparer on the seriousness of tax evasion.

The perception of tax evasion may somewhat explain the degree of non-compliance with the tax laws.

Using data from a self-administered survey and a personnel structured interview in 2009, the results of mean and comparative analysis show that tax evasion items were ranked as the three least crimes of 30 listed crimes.

Further, tax evasion is categorized the least serious category out of six categories.

The results of the multiple regression show that age, gender, marital status, source of income and occupation explain different perceptions towards the seriousness of tax evasion.

The results of this study should be useftd to policy makers in Yemen and elsewhere, as it was found that there is an alarming signal that tax evasion is relatively ranked as ةااا least serious offence, which could lead to an environment where taxpayers may اس be afraid of cheating on their tax returns.