Attitude toward tax evasion in Brazil, russia, India and China (BRIC)

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.