Posted on 10/18/2004 8:32:32 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
LOS ANGELES (AP) - City officials plan to launch a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" program for undocumented immigrant entrepreneurs whose businesses, they say, are costing Los Angeles as much as $39 million a year in lost tax revenues.
The program, to be launched next year, will target both legal and illegal immigrants, encouraging them to register their businesses and pay their taxes.
"Our goal is not prosecution. It's to collect revenue to pay for public services," said Yusef Robb, a spokesman for Mayor James Hahn.
City officials say many of the businesses they plan to target are mom-and-pop operations launched by people unable to apply for jobs with other companies because of their legal status. They include such modest operations as people selling flowers at freeway off ramps and those who hawk goods out of their homes.
Roberto Barragan of the Valley Economic Development Center estimates 80 percent of the city's new entrepreneurs are immigrants.
"These people are setting up businesses anyway," Barragan said. "The real challenge is convincing them it's not difficult. The IRS does not care if you are legal or not, they just care if you pay taxes."
Typical of such small-business people is Ignacia Cruz, who set up a small candy store last year in the two-bedroom apartment she shares with her husband and five children.
She didn't know how to apply for business permits until she took a VEDC-sponsored class, Cruz said, adding she wants to register with the city so she won't have to worry about inspectors shutting her down.
"I want to pay taxes because it will benefit me," said Cruz, 38.
Critics of the city's plan say it legitimizes the actions of illegal immigrants. Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Simi Valley, called for enforcing federal immigration laws instead.
"We have the laws, but we have to have an administration that has the will to enforce them," Gallegly said.
this is what happens with Arnold as Governor...it is only fair to have the undocumented aliens paying taxes for the enormous benefits received....and it is wonderful to see a Republican Governor, immigrant himself, moving forward with this...in the past too much promises from Dems to do something about this....wonderful news!
The government won't enforce immigrations laws but will enforce laws that directly leads to revenue...?
It's interesting that the beef is uncollected taxes rather than zoning violations.
In most neighborhoods if you so much as hang out a shingle advertising your home business there will be an instant uproar but down in the barrio you can open a restaurant in your driveway. The food smells real good in most cases but they dump the cooking grease down the sewer and customers park up and down the street. Just an observation.
Looks like they also don't care to enforce code and zoning laws. A candy store in your 2 bdrm apartment would not be allowed in most cities. If a legal citizen did this they would be heavily fined and ordered to stop running the business out of their home.
I haven't read about this in the local papers.
If I remember correctly, LA has laws in place that stop large corporations from invading certain sectors. For instance, in South Bay, they have their own police stations and such, but you wont see Target or Wal Mart until you cross Pacific Coast Highway. It's all small businesses.
South Bay and downtown LA are like night and day, not including the lack of a beach environment. Then again, so is Irvine compared to LA.. Los Angeles is the armpit of America. I had to live in downtown for a couple months while working a contract job with Northrop Grumman and couldn't wait to leave. However, the Mexican run businesses around the area has some very authentic places that I enjoyed eating at daily.
lol
Hate to pop your bubble but the Gub is not even mentioned in this article nor is he a member of the Los Angeles local government that is pursuing this line of recouping costs.
Welcome to FR. :-)
The government (at all levels) apparently feels that they can tax their way out of the illegal immigration crisis. What foolishness.
A typical illegal immigrant family of 5 costs all governments approximately $40K (that's forty thousand dollars) annually in taxpayer supported services including health, welfare and education. Taxes from the candy store in the barrio and the minimum wage that the two adults can earn won't generate over $5k in taxes paid.
I can't count the "conservative" fools on both hands that raced to elect the Austrian pretender as governor. Now both they and I are living with the consequences. Send the Mexicans back to Mexico and return Schwarzenegger to a life of private property management or back to Austria or both.
That's a rhetorical question, right?
The government seems to have the "don't ask" part down pretty well. What part of the "don't tell" part don't they understand? Do they really believe that illegal workers will "tell" of their earnings and pay taxes on it?
-PJ
Ignacia Cruz, who set up a small candy store last year in the two-bedroom apartment she shares with her husband and five children.
Yeah, and no one does anything about it. If we citizens tried that we'd be in more trouble then we could cope with. Apparently, not only do the immigration laws not apply to Mexicans, the zoning laws don't apply also.
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