Crime of Tax Evasion: A Survey of Its Perception in Yemen

Abstract. This paper measures the perception of Yemeni citizens of the severity of tax evasion relative to othercrimes and violations. The main objectives of this study are: (1) to examine the level of the seriousness of taxevasion compared to other offences; (2) to determine whether there is a significant differences in the seriousnessof tax evasion between victim and victimless of offences; and (3) to investigate the influence of the demographicvariables, namely; age, gender, marital status, education, source of income, occupation, level of income and taxreturn preparer on the seriousness of tax evasion. The perception of tax evasion may somewhat explain the degreeof non-compliance with the tax laws. Using data from a self-administered survey and a personnel structuredinterview in 2009, the results of mean and comparative analysis show that tax evasion items were ranked as thethree least crimes of 30 listed crimes. Further, tax evasion is categorized the least serious category out of sixcategories. The results of the multiple regression show that age, gender, marital status, source of income andoccupation explain different perceptions towards the seriousness of tax evasion. The results of this study should beuseful to policy makers in Yemen and elsewhere, as it was found that there is an alarming signal that tax evasion isrelatively ranked as the least serious offence, which could lead to an environment where taxpayers may not beafraid of cheating on their tax returns.