More and more people are finding ways of working off the books, and it’s not just illegals. People from all walks of life are doing it.
“More and more people are finding ways of working off the books, and it’s not just illegals. People from all walks of life are doing it.”
As the government finds more and more ways to make it impossible to get by, who can blame them. As long as they are legal citizens, I say go for it.
I want the Fair Tax! I’m self employed and I’m paying not only an incredibly high rate, but huge penalties for years when my income fluctuated and I couldn’t pay the full amount of my taxes at that time. I’ll never catch up, essentially. Not a pleasant prospect.
that's been going on for decades. From the electrician doing side work on the weekend to the cash-paid bartender at the local saloon - it's prevalent. People do it to avoid the extra paper work of reporting income, they do it to avoid going over the "earned-income-credit" level, they do it to maintain government support checks such as disability, unemployment, or welfare bennies.
And the employer benefits as well - businesses running on the edge can stay in business by not having to pay withholding taxes for "undocumented" employees, not to mention increased insurance and government costs that are saved when the employee isn't legit.
Walk through any large city neighborhood and note all the small restaurants, bars, and shops. Odds are that half of them employ somebody "under-the-table".
I read some time ago that in Italy, because of the complicated and oppressive tax system, over 30% of the Italian economy is “underground”.
Greedy Big Brother still hasn’t figured out that a less oppressive system and lower rates actually encourage more compliance, hence more revenue.