Posted on 04/02/2009 6:39:57 AM PDT by anniegetyourgun
Carlos Cruz has a strategy for surviving the worst global recession in 60 years: pay less in taxes and pass the savings along to customers.
"I'm declaring half as much as I used to," said Cruz, 29, who runs a painting business in Madrid. "Prices have fallen by 30 percent and customers will choose you for a difference of as little as 50 euros ($67.70)," said Cruz, an Ecuadorian who has lived in Spain since 2001.
The production of goods and services that are lawful, though not declared, may grow the most as a proportion of total output since 2000, according to Friedrich Schneider, a professor at Austria's Johannes Kepler University of Linz.
The shift, measured by tax analysts and economists using surveys, money-supply data and anecdotal evidence, is caused by businesses going off the books to cut costs and workers taking informal jobs to survive rising unemployment. It offers a buffer against the ravages of the crisis and may help explain why the slowdown hasn't prompted more social unrest.
"The good news then is that the recession, as captured by the official statistics, may not be as severe as it appears," said Edgar Feige, a professor at the University of Wisconsin- Madison who has studied the underground economy for 30 years. In past slumps, unregistered activity increased as a proportion of the official economy, he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at denverpost.com ...
I’m sure it’s true. I recently bought a chair on Craig’s List. The owner was laid-off and was happy to use up his unemployment before he looks for a job. He’s a DJ on the weekend.
But none of our ‘republican’ representatives will have the guts to use info like this to push for the Fair Tax.
Tax dodgers multiply as underground economy cushions job cuts.....
I would rename this article:
“The Free Market continues to flourish in the underground economy.”
And there is nothing wrong with that, IMO.
It makes sense. I feel there will be many more “cash discounts” available in the future — well, until the government starts to microstamp money, that is.
There will have to be an underground economy in the future - for those who won’t take the mark!
Won't work. Everyone would resort to barter and it would further destroy the world's currencies. The only reason any "money" works is if people use it.
Atlas is beginning to shrug.
When you turn your population into criminal tax evaders through confiscatory taxation, you have to lower taxes significantly in order to get them back on the tax rolls.
I’m not sure that will ever happen (lower taxes) at this point, so it is in every Americans best interest, and in my opinion a patriotic duty to avoid paying taxes as much as is possible.
The black market thrives in socialist countries. And that’s probably as good a measure as any for benchmarking the level of socialism in a country.
Obama may not have legalized tax evasion, but he sure has “moralized” it.
In the past, the typical conservative would probably shun an acquaintance who got dinged for tax evasion or civil penalties: (”come on, pay your share, I do!”). Now, sympathy is the more likely reaction.
Recall that PayPal’s new policy (required by the government) is to ask you if it’s for business, is this your main source of income, etc. Be careful out there folks.
And if you get caught evading taxes, just ask for the “Rangell / Daschle / Geithner exemption” from payment and prosecution.
the last thing the government needs is yet another monthly wealfare check/prebate check/living prebate check as outlined in that monstrosity.
This just shows that confiscatory taxes are unworkable in a free ecconomy. Lower taxes mean more productivity.
a flat tax is the way to go if anything.
I suspect that we'll end up with that as well as the income tax. Somewhere in the near future, Social Security payments, etc. will also be taxed. These SOBs are rapacious.
They already do tax SS recipients if they make a certain income. Not sure what that is. I believe that battle was lost under Clinton.
Yeah. I think after 65 you can still earn quite a bit - I took advantage of it for a few more years. But, as things tighten up, jsst at with the bogus "only those over $250,000", IMO, the limits will be lowered.
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