Tax cheats are doing real damage to the government’s finances, with about $300 billion in missing taxes each year, according to the Associated Press. That money alone would balance our federal budget each year. The missing money is about $2,680 per household in the U.S. But that figure is misleading: about 85% of households pay the full taxes due, meaning only about 15% of households (and some corporations and small businesses) are cheating.

1040Interestingly, I found many liberal blogs which propose that cheating on taxes is a kind of treason and must be fought vigorously, while I found many conservative sites (including an editorial) that consider cheating on taxes actually ‘heroic’. Their thinking all comes from why people cheat, and what our relationship with our government is.

This question is particularly relevant for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, I think. If we believe our government, and our tax laws in particular, fairly represent us (or are getting more fair over time) then that’s motivation not to cheat. If we believe our government and our tax laws do not adequately represent us, then we may believe, like the Colonists of the Revolutionary period, that we are facing “taxation without representation” and look for ways to resist.

The IRS claims significant progress in cracking down on cheaters, but in fact some cheating isn’t all that hard, and with chances of an audit quite low, I wonder if disgruntled LGBT people might be tempted? In fact, I know some who aren’t just tempted, but actually doing it.

One gay couple I know exaggerate the amount of their tax-deductible charitable giving every year. Their reasoning? Gifts to organizations like the Human Rights Campaign aren’t tax deductible, but they ought to be, since HRC and political advocacy groups like them are largely volunteer efforts, and making our nation a better place. So they pump up their reported donations to IRS-approved charitable organizations, to “make up for” the write-off they believe they should get for non-IRS-approved LGBT organizations. (Of course, charitable gifts to many other LGBT organizations, like the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and Lamba Legal, are tax-deductible according to the IRS.)

Another case: A lesbian I know was once married (to a man), but they’ve been divorced for many years. Since her ex-husband doesn’t report any income and thus doesn’t file taxes, this high-earning lesbian continues to file “married, jointly” to get a pretty sizable tax write-off every year. Her reasoning is, she ought to be able to get married (to a woman), but since the government deprives her of this right, she’s acting with ‘civil disobedience’.

What’s your take on this? If you thought you could cheat on your taxes, justify it as an act of LGBT civil rights, and get away with it, would you? Would your thinking change if you thought you would likely get caught?

FYI, if for any reason you do get contacted by the IRS, you might like to be aware of the office of the Taxpayer Advocate, whose job it is to ensure you get fair treatment.