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The current study was designed to investigate U.S. taxpayers' perception of the severity of tax evasion relative to other offences in general and white-collar crimes in particular. We compared the perception of tax evasion to twenty other offences, including violent crimes such as rape and murder and relatively minor offences such as jaywalking. Due to the recent focus by lawmakers and the media on white-collar scandals and the lack of comparisons in prior literature, we also included six white-collar crimes. Overall, the results indicate that tax evasion was viewed as only somewhat serious. When comparing tax evasion to other white-collar offences, we found that tax evasion was perceived as equal in severity to minimum wage law violations and rated less serious than the other four white-collar crimes investigated. Most demographic factors (age, gender, education or income level, political affiliation, etc.) did not seem to be related to perceptions of tax evasion. However, location of taxpayers did have some effect. These findings differ from several previous studies.2

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The U.S. federal government raises most of its revenue from three sources: individual income tax, payroll tax, and corporate income tax. The corporate tax share of total federal revenue has declined dramatically over the last three decades, while tax from individual income has been consistent during the same period. There may be a number of reasons for the decrease in the contribution corporate income taxes make to federal revenues. One of those reasons may be that there has been a dramatic change in how businesses are being organized and operated in the United States. For many years, business entities could choose to operate as either a corporation or a partnership. However, currently, businesses can choose from a variety of entities in which to operate. This article will examine the changes in capital business formations and their impact on the federal revenue collected. In addition, the article will explore the tax policy implications of these new strategies.

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