Community Hopes, Fears and Actions

The Community Hopes, Fears and Actions survey was developed to obtain a snapshot of the beliefs, attitudes, values and motivations held by Australian citizens in relation to the Australian Taxation Office, the tax systems, Australian democracy, and their fellow taxpayers in 2000. It was conducted during the time when the GST was introduced to Australia. The design of the survey is based on the a number of assumptions and propositions about tax compliance, including, but not limited to, that: individuals are consciously aware of their own compliance behaviour in the area of taxation; the degree to which individuals believe they are complying with the law might not correspond to tax officer assessments of their compliance; and, compliance is shaped by specific influences that are bound by time and place. The questions asked in the survey pertain to the individual's attitudes and beliefs regarding their own compliance; their fellow taxpayers' compliance or behaviour; the behaviour and conduct of the Australian Taxation Office; experience with the Australian Taxation Office; what the most important principles are for Australia; and Australian democracy. Background variables include gender, age, country of birth, marital status, highest level education achieved, and employment status. For further information, please refer to the Centre for Tax System Integrity at http://ctsi.anu.edu.au