The biggest tax cheats: Rich folks

Confirming what you might've always suspected, a new study shows that those with high incomes are more likely to underreport what they make.

By Forbes.com

A new study based on unpublished Internal Revenue Service data shows the rich are different when it comes to paying taxes: They hide more of their income.

The previously unreported study estimates that taxpayers whose true income was between $500,000 and $1 million a year understated their adjusted gross incomes by 21% overall in 2001, compared with an 8% underreporting rate for Americans earning $50,000 to $100,000 and even lower rates for those earning less.

(The "net misreporting rate," as the IRS calls it, includes both underreported income and inflated deductions.)

In all, because of their higher noncompliance rates, those with true incomes of $200,000 or more received 25% of all income but accounted for 40% of net underreported income and 42% of underreported tax in 2001, according to the new analysis.

As if we needed more evidence about greed and the moral deficencies of the rich.