A survey of 1,131 consumers in the United States identified substantial gaps in knowledge or literacy with respect to fundamental U.S. tax law concepts of withholding and tax liability, tax brackets, tax deductions versus credits, charitable contributions, income and exclusions (gifts), and payroll/self-employment tax. Rates of misunderstanding of each concept ranged from 30% to 79%. Regression analysis suggests tax literacy was higher among males and consumers who were older, more educated, and had higher household incomes. Self-reported tax knowledge was weakly correlated with objectively measured knowledge ( r = .37, p < .001), suggesting respondents had limited ability to estimate their own literacy of tax concepts. Tax literacy was significantly, but relatively weakly correlated with a more general measure of financial literacy suggesting that tax literacy is a related, yet distinct component of a consumers’ overall financial proficiency. These findings have important implications for consumer welfare via potential impacts on everyday consumer decisions and public discourse.

中文翻译：

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消费者对税法的误解：美国调查结果

对美国 1,131 名消费者进行的一项调查发现，在预扣税和纳税义务、税级、税收减免与抵免、慈善捐款、收入和排除（礼物）以及工资单等基本美国税法概念方面存在巨大的知识或素养差距/ 自雇税。每个概念的误解率从 30% 到 79% 不等。回归分析表明，男性和年龄较大、受教育程度较高且家庭收入较高的消费者的税收知识更高。自我报告的税务知识与客观测量的知识相关性较弱（r = .37，p <.001），这表明受访者估计自己的税务概念素养的能力有限。税务知识显着，但与更一般的金融素养测量相关性相对较弱，这表明税务素养是消费者整体金融熟练程度的一个相关但独特的组成部分。这些发现通过对日常消费者决策和公共话语的潜在影响，对消费者福利具有重要意义。