Lying on insurance forms and not declaring taxable income are among the ways a sizable proportion of Americans are cheating the financial system, a survey found.
More than a third of the surveyed Americans confessed to some form of financial cheating, ranging from taking office supplies home (25 per cent) to pocketing change received in error (37 per cent) at the cash register, the Op4G and MoneyRates.com research found.
The vast majority admitted to downplaying their son or daughter’s use of the family car on auto insurance policies to keep premiums low, with just 12.6 per cent representing it honestly, according to the survey of 2000 adults.
Meanwhile, almost a quarter (23 per cent) said they have cheated the tax system by not declaring their full income.
A larger proportion (30 per cent) said they would consider tax evasion if they were fairly certain they would not get caught.
The survey found more than half of respondents felt some guilt about financial cheating, and men were more likely to partake than women.
