If someone you knew was a benefits cheat would you report them and why?

Question

I don't know anyone who is a benefits cheat, how assuming of you all!

Answer 1

Depends on why they were cheating, and how hard they had looked for other options.  But in most cases - Yes, report!

Answer 2

No, I wouldn't. There is a very sophisticated operation in progress to catch benefits cheats. I know personally of some people in my neighbourhood - they are having to pay back tens of thousands.

My life is too full and busy to be doing someone else's job however much it stings my bank balance due to high tax deductions.

Answer 3

No I would not because if they want to commit a crime that's up to them not us, they will get found out eventually as if they are getting cash in hand they company paying it has to give account details of where the money is going and it will be in their yearly accounts to tax office which is connected to DSS.

Answer 4

I know too many people that are doing this and have continuously said i will report them but never get round to it. So i would say yes :)

Answer 5

No I would  not. Burglary, murder etc yes without  a doubt.

   H.M.G. screws enough money out of me to waste on consultants spin doctors MP expenses  overseas trips etc that if someone is able to s***w some money out of them good luck to them. Apart from that I am not a little concerned rned about the way we are encouraged to report anything to the police. Our children will be reporting us for calling Gordon "Incapabilty" Brown rude names next as a crime against the State

Answer 6

Yes I would as they are stealing from all the tax payers.

Answer 7

It's a hard one. It's obviously not right but it can be understandable and justifiable.  It depends on people's circumstances. If it was say a mother struggling to raise kids, doing a little bit of work on the side and claiming, then no as it's understandable. If it was some bloke with a good job and no responsibilities then yes as he would just be taking the p**s out of us all.

Don't forget all the tax avoiders and evadors who cost the country billions, no one clamours to report them. Or big corporations who hardly pay any tax but make billions here and use our infrastructure...there is no big media campaign to make them pay up or feel guilty. No, the emphasis is always on reporting the poorest, the easy targets who are dole cheating for a reason.

I think we'd be better off raiding multinational offices and discovering how they avoid paying tax rather than spending a lot of money on people diddling the state out of £100 a week.

Answer 8

A couple of years back i would have said yes .Now we have seen how politicians cheat money out of the tax payers and the wealthy cheat with their taxes they are only following their piers examples.

Now I wouldn't, report them because they are costing me a lot less than the fat cats .

Answer 9

"If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country."  (E.M. Forster). I think that's how it would work with me.

I can see myself, however, reporting a cheat with whom I had no personal dealings (using the anonymous call system)because in such a case one can take a purely objective stand and act without any twinges at the heart strings.

Answer 10

Yes and in fact I have reported someone, because they are taking advantage of an already overburdened benefits system.  

Answer 11

Yes I would, I work hard and pay shed loads of tax so these scroungers can watch the Jeremy Kyle show!

Answer 12

I would, yes.  The simple reason is that many people need benefits and if there are people claiming them who aren't eligible, those who are lose out.  Moreover, the populous as a whole loses out because more money is required to fund benefits.

I always report behaviour like this.  I even reported a bunch of people for using disabled parking spaces when I (and many others) had paid and walked some distance to use normal ones.  Unfairness like that should not be permitted.

Answer 13

No, I personally wouldn't, aside from fear of getting my head kicked in, I would not assume I knew everything about their circumstances.  The big fraudsters, multiple benefit claims and illegal employers, should be picked up by the system and it is not healthy to put the responsibility on individual neighbours to grass on each other to do the dirty work.  Taxpayers are far more out of pocket from the fraudulent claims of, or concessions to, the super rich and we don't see adverts on the buses encouraging them to grass on each other.

Think about it, benefits claimants are at the very bottom of society and often in a poverty trap, whatever happened to some degree of working class solidarity?  Surely the question to be asked is whether the benefits system always responds to all basic needs.

You may see a single mother doing a couple of shifts in a pub, how do you not know this is not to visit a sick relative at the other end of the country or to pay for extra music lessons for a talented child?

Of course theft is theft, but it's like comparing the theft of a Mars bar to the theft of a car.

Grass on the person by all means, but only if you are clear in your conscience that you would be happy for them to grass on you if the circumstances were reversed.

Answer 14

YES

Answer 15

Yes because they are stealing from everybody who pays taxes

Answer 16

yes i would the British benefit system is a safety net for people to fall back on in times of hardship, and should no way be used as a comfy hammock to lay back in, and treat as a life style. That's why the country is in the state it is.

Answer 17

Yes - because why should I pay for them to live off my taxes - I work to earn money - so should they.

Report them - it's anonymous

Answer 18

YES Why should everyone else go out to work to pay for those lazy b@st@rds who can't be bothered getting off their @rses and out of bed. This really annoys me!

Answer 19

h**l yell...cheaters only make it higher for payers to live. Report ASAP!!! Everyone have to pay to live...taxes or whatever!