Tax Evasion and Benefit Fraud: A Study of the Use of Techniques of Neutralization

Abstract

This article examines the techniques of neutralization (ToN) used by tax evaders and benefit fraudsters in the Aotearoa New Zealand justice system. Using data from court sentencing notes, we code our data into ToN to provide insights into the different excuses and justifications that are used by the two different offender categories. We find overall greater use of ToN by tax evaders (in number of use and in number of kinds), along with greater use of ToN that are legislated mitigating factors, such as claims of a good character. Good character was among the least used ToN among benefit fraudsters. We found limited commonality among the ToN used, with benefit fraud cases more likely to reference anti-social factors (e.g. drugs, gambling, violence or alcohol). Tax offenders were more likely to claim the act was anomalous, while benefit fraudsters were more likely to focus on excusing factors, such as physical or mental health. Tax evaders were also more likely to deny injury from their actions, while a higher proportion of benefit fraudsters were actively making reparation for their offending, despite financial necessity being a common ToN for the offending. Overall, the ToN used by tax evaders supports the literature that suggests that tax evaders, as white-collar criminals, are better able to exploit their existing advantage in the justice system than their benefit fraudster counterparts.