Is there a term for deliberately misestimating a value to avoid a threshold?

Solution 1:

We have 2 (or 3) requirements:
(1) Must imply that it was Deliberate.
(2) Must imply that the Estimate was less than actual.
(3) Must imply that the other Party (not Self) was the beneficiary. (It is not in the title of the question, but this is what the Judges were aiming for)

Now, "Lowballed" satisfies (1) & (2), but may imply that Self was the beneficiary.

"Lowballed": made a deliberately low estimate. (Source : WordWeb Online)

Here are some alternatives which satisfy (2) only:

"Underestimated" , "Undervalued" , "Underreckoned" , "Underreported"

We may try to indicate (3) with "Benign" :

"Benign" : Kindness of disposition or manner (Source : WordWeb Online)

If we allow an adverb, then the following may satisfy all 3 requirements:

"Benignly Lowballed" , "Benignly Underestimated" , "Benignly Undervalued" , "Benignly Underreckoned" , "Benignly Underreported"

If we allow an adjective, then we may use it to Describe the Judge:

"Benign Judge"

Solution 2:

In both cases you could say the judge biased their estimate in the defendant's favour. Because bias is also used in a political sense it might not always work but here it does. Skewed is an alternative. Like biased it's transitive and needs something like judgement or estimate and an object.

Solution 3:

The other answers seem to be addressing the example, not the core question, which is, how do you describe fudging a value to squeak just under a statutory limit? If food stamps cut off at $40,000, and I earned $30,000 in reported wage, my self-reported tips happened to be $9,999.

I don't think English has a single word or phrase to express the two concepts together:

• you are altering the true value somewhat
• the target is a fixed threshold

A word like skinning or ducking would imply both - but would only make sense if the importance of the threshold were known. And if it were, then tweaking to the threshold would be implied, and you only need to express the bending.

My suggestions are inline in italics.

Solution 4:

Distort [dih-stawrt] verb (used with object)

1. to twist awry or out of shape; make crooked or deformed: Arthritis had distorted his fingers.

2. to give a false, perverted, or disproportionate meaning to; misrepresent: to distort the facts.

Source: Dictionary.com

"The judge distorted the facts by stating that the thief had stolen goods to the value of 39 shillings".

Though this usually carries a negative connotation (as truth is usually sacrosanct), in these cases the distortion was done compassionately.

"The judge compassionately distorted the facts by stating that the thief had stolen goods to the value of 39 shillings".

or you could focus on the generosity of the judge and say,

"The judge showed compassion by stating that the thief had stolen goods to the value of 39 shillings".