Students destined to become tax dodgers
A study looking at the taxpaying habits of 447 recent graduates down under found a link between those who were dissatisfied with their courses and a willingness to evade tax and student debt repayments. The Australian scheme was a model for the tuition fees system in England and Wales.
Researchers Eliza Ahmed and Valerie Braithwaite of the Australian National University discovered that some graduates under-declared their earnings, were paid cash in hand or exaggerated the rebates they were entitled to – and the less they felt they got out of their courses the more shameless they were about doing so.
But could the same principles work here? Student loan repayments are taken out of graduates' earnings above a certain threshold by their employers, and then paid back to the government. So, unless your employer is dodgy or you work for yourself, you might find it difficult. There are other implications too – apart from it being illegal, not reporting your true earnings would mean paying less national insurance, which would in turn mean a smaller pension on retirement.
Students from abroad, however, may find it easier to dodge student loan repayments. International students pay fees up front and usually find it difficult to borrow money in this country, but EU students are required by law to be treated the same as students from the UK. Once they go back home they are not registered to pay tax in this country, so the taxman might have a hard time getting repayments from them.
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