Information gleaned from surveys of British taxpayers have found that while most complain about levels of tax paid, they are unable to correctly identify which sorts of taxes hit the hardest, and still do not take full advantage of tax breaks.
The Royal Economic Society says mistakes in identifying which taxes hurt the most are also dangerous because it can lead people to make decisions on tax options that are actually wrong – and will cost more. Studying answers in the British Social Attitudes Survey, the RES concludes that most people fail to correctly estimate how much tax increases will cost them, with most overestimating the costs. In the examples studies this caused problems when people were queried about the relative merits of VAT versus a 5p in the pound increase applied to the top income tax rate. Because people...
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