New Book Explores Ethical Issues Surrounding Tax Cheating

May 10, 2012 - PRLog -- Springfield, IL, - The IRS acknowledges that at least $450 billion in taxes go unreported or unpaid each year. With millions of individuals engaging in some measure of tax cheating—compared to the four thousand individuals who go to prison for tax evasion each year--tax cheating is a much bigger problem. But who is to blame for tax cheating when most partaking in the activity don’t even realize they are breaking the law and are merely victims of the complexity of the tax code which is born out of 100 years of adding special provisions and exceptions?

 

            Donald Morris’ new book, Tax Cheating: Illegal—But Is It Immoral? explores whether it’s wrong to cheat the system and sheds light on the ethical issues surrounding tax cheating. From tax cheating associated with Al Capone, UBS and Swiss bank accounts, or overvaluing clothing donated to charity, Morris delves further into such actions in the face of the economic climate of the time and ethics in general. He takes into account the behavior of individuals and small businesses as well as of government bodies such as Congress and the IRS. Morris also takes cues from various disciplines—law, psychology, sociology, criminology, accounting, economics, and philosophy—to further consider the ethical issues surrounding tax cheating and the implications for tax policy.

 

            “Our tax system is in need of drastic revision,” said Don Morris, CPA, associate professor of accounting at the University of Illinois, Certified Fraud Examiner and former practitioner. “While polls show that most Americans believe tax cheating is wrong, more than 20 percent of the taxes due the treasury go unreported or unpaid annually. The root of this paradox is found in an examination of the meaning of tax cheating and in the moral problem caused by the so-called voluntary tax system.”


Tax Cheating: Illegal—But Is It Immoral? is not a how-to book but a philosophical public policy book that will have readers thinking deeply about a topic that is often misconstrued as tax evasion. Available for pre-order now on SUNY Press (http://www.sunypress.edu/p-5503-tax-cheating.aspx), Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Tax-Cheating-Illegal--But-Excelsior...), and Barnes & Noble (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tax-cheating-donald-morri...), the book will be released June 1st.