Are there different attitudes towards tax fraud and social fraud?

Summary In times of economic crisis, the needs of the State increase and the tax base shrinks. It is therefore common to see the fight against the various forms of fraud that reduce public revenues resurface in the public debate. In this context, tax fraud is regularly contrasted with social fraud and the discussion often focuses on the relative importance of the two. Tax fraud is the illegal misuse of a tax system in order to avoid contributing to the financing of public expenses, and social fraud is the evasion of social security deductions or the undue receipt of social benefits. The two forms of fraud sometimes overlap. Although it is difficult to measure precisely the two forms of fraud, it is generally estimated that tax fraud represents a much greater loss of revenue for the State than social fraud. However, it is important to note that these two types of fraud certainly emanate from populations with different characteristics in terms of activity and resources. It is therefore interesting to try to identify the explanatory factors of these two types of fraud, to know if they respond to the same economic springs and moral imperatives. Populations or groups are often stigmatized for practicing one or the other type of fraud. This article proposes to explain the factors leading to these two types of fraud, based on data obtained from a laboratory experiment. Because of its control requirements and its artificiality, laboratory experimentation can contribute to providing some answers. Indeed, by choosing appropriate parameter values, it allows for a direct comparison of the two types of fraud from an economic point of view in order to isolate the non-economic dimensions of decision-making.