Everyday Ethics: How Honest Are Europeans? 40 Per Cent of All Taxpayers Would Cheat the Inland Revenue

Stuttgart, June 24 (idea) - How honest are Europeans in every day life? The magazine "Reader's Digest" (Stuttgart) has put 4.100 citizens in 19 countries to the test and asked them how they feel about cheating the Inland Revenue or returning a wallet to the lost and found office.

Two thirds of those questioned would, for example, return ten Euros to a supermarket cashier if they realize that they have been given too much change. 39 per cent of all taxpayers are prepared to withhold information about additional income from the Inland Revenue.

16 per cent of all Europeans would take home towels from a hotel room. 14 per cent would drink and drive. One in five Germans has no scruples to occupy a parking space reserved for the handicapped; in Russia 40 per cent and in England 36 per cent would act in a similar way.

Suppose you find a wallet with 50 Euros: 76 per cent of all Swiss people say they would hand it in to the police. The other extreme: 87 per cent of all Poles would keep the money.

Evangelical news agency idea. Wolfgang Polzer Tel: +49-6441-915102, Fax: +49-6441-915118 e-mail: - Internet: http://www.idea.de Postal address: idea, PO Box 1820, 35528 Wetzlar, Germany