Knowing demographics of an area has some use...and 20 years ago I wouldn't have had a problem with the questions, but these days...they can kiss my ass.
A couple of years ago when I got hit, I got the mail surveys and then the follow up phone calls and then the threats and then they stopped.
As far as the law on the matter:
13 U.S. Code § 221 - Refusal or neglect to answer questions; false answers
(a) Whoever, being over eighteen years of age, refuses or willfully neglects, when requested by the Secretary, or by any other authorized officer or employee of the Department of Commerce or bureau or agency thereof acting under the instructions of the Secretary or authorized officer, to answer, to the best of his knowledge, any of the questions on any schedule submitted to him in connection with any census or survey provided for by subchapters I, II, IV, and V of chapter 5 of this title, applying to himself or to the family to which he belongs or is related, or to the farm or farms of which he or his family is the occupant, shall be fined not more than $100.
This is a civil fine (as it's not in the criminal part of the US code).
Going back to myself a couple of years ago, I think what got them to shut up is when I asked to whom I needed to mail the $100 fine. No, I never got billed.
So my advice to you is if you can handle the $100 fine (not that they will actually fine you), tell them to stick their survey up their asses.
But whatever you do, don't lie...
It will cost the government 5 million bucks to collect that $100.
Thanks for the info.
As usual, our FedGov is a little behind in asking the followup questions...like 4 years behind.
Mine went on for several months - the phone calls, the visits. It was the American Community Survey. The questions were quite invasive.
I never answered one phone call or answered the door. They would call several times a day for a month or two. They get very insistent that it’s the law, you must do it, yada, yada, yada. As far as I know they’ve never fined anyone. If they did, it might lead to a class action law suit.....they just want to intimidate people into answering.
Mark is right...don’t lie. I just wouldn’t answer.
“But whatever you do, don’t lie... “
But then you can do like I did. I would not give an answer until I double checked the item. Since my wife was away, I would put him on hold-in-place while I called her and then gave him an answer which I would then double check with my personal files while the dog stared and growled at him. About three questions and 3 hours later he rudely got up and left with the dog giving him the evil eye - dirty dog look.