… For six years, I have studied Americans’ attitudes about taxes as they reveal them in surveys, interviews, public statements and the voting booth. The data are clear: Americans do not think it’s smart to avoid your taxes; they think it’s unethical.
Pollsters have been asking Americans whether “it is every American’s civic duty to pay their fair share of taxes.” Every year, about nine in 10 Americans agree with that sentiment. In 2009, 3 percent of respondents disagreed. That level of accord is very rare. To give you a point of reference: About 6 percent of Americans think the Apollo 11 moon landing was faked. On the civic responsibility of taxpaying, Americans are about as close to consensus as they ever get. CONT.
Vanessa Williamson (Brookings), New York Times