A Nation of Tax Evaders?

Around 80 percent of Germans have committed tax evasion at least once in their lives, according to a survey by the Hamburg-based research institute Gewis. Asked whether they had ever had the feeling that the financial authorities demanded too much tax, 79 percent of respondents answered "Yes." To the follow-up question of whether they had ever withheld taxable income for this reason, four-fifths again responded with "Yes." On a more general note, according to 96 percent of the 1084 men and women surveyed, Germany is a far too regimented society. That's why 89 percent of those asked said they no longer take the country's 85,000 laws and regulations seriously.