Thank you 😊 It’s always disappointing when nuance gets lost in favor of simplification.

Thoughts? 👀

6/ This isn't a moral crisis—it's a crisis of institutional legitimacy. People’s core values haven’t shifted, but their belief in government authority has. When trust is lost, so too is the sense of moral duty to uphold its rules.

5/ Decades of austerity and perceived government failures could be a factor. When public trust in institutions erodes, so does the belief that those institutions deserve our full compliance. In other words, dishonesty toward 'the system' feels less like a sin.

4/ On one hand, many still view personal dishonesty—like cheating on a partner—as morally unacceptable. On the other, fewer people seem to feel morally indebted to institutions like HMRC. Why?

3/ If our moral compasses were truly eroding, we'd expect a rise across all categories of dishonesty. But that's not happening. Instead, what this data suggests is that people's sense of moral obligation toward the government is changing.

2/ The data shows that while more people find it acceptable to lie about taxes or engage in 'serious dishonesty of a criminal nature,' the proportion of people who find personal lies (e.g., affairs or lies to advance personal interests) acceptable has stayed stable over time.

they ARE nice mushrooms!