If you could be assured you would not get caught, would you cheat on your taxes?

You bet.

No I would not. I value taxes and do not respect those who would cheat on their taxes. Taxes pay for our education, healthcare, roads, police, fire and ambulance and I am very appreciative of these things. I do not like the idea of parasites and I do not wish to become one.

For the record, I pay my taxes.

If the country followed your idealistic model, I'd pay taxes.

If the country was as it actually is now and I could skip a year's taxes with no fear of retribution, I would.

It would be silly for me to cheat as I'm getting money back.

No. Although I probably inadvertently cheat on them anyway, since I'm not familiar with all the tax laws. But I do them in good faith.

No, I don't think so. Not that I really pay taxes yet - except my bank account has started stealing my money which isn't fair! I need to let them know that I'm still in full-time education.......

But Dino's taxes really *do* pay for education, healthcare, roads, police, fire and ambulance - along with other things.........

If it would mean that I would get a lot of money back, then YES! If I knew that I wouldn't get caught then, why not?!

Lucky for him/her. Mine seem to go to politicians who will do anything in their power to preserve the thickness of their billfolds...

Where are you?

...in my cubicle. And you?

I have a friend that dosn't pay her taxes and it makes me crazy. Both she and her husband work and get paid "under the table"- and I get so sick of watching my husband work just as hard and we seem to never get ahead, while my friend gets everything her heart desires! YES- if I thought we could get away with it, I would cheat.

In my parents' bedroom. Which happens to be in the UK

I'm not sure. I might cheat a little, but I wouldn't go overboard. And, if I did cheat, it would only be on my personal taxes. I do the books for our family businesses and I seriously doubt I'd cheat on the taxes there. Even if I knew I would not get caught, I'm sure the fear would still be there.

Of course. I cheat on them now and I don't even pay them yet. Do you know what I mean?

Nope.

Who wouldn't!?!?!

probably not

No need to.

No I wouldn't. cuteasabutton mentioned someone who gets paid 'under the table' and doesn't pay taxes. I don't think I would consider that cheating, in certain circumstances. If you get nothing that says how much you made (no paperwork) and you get paid cash, there's no way to report it, unless you kept track of it yourself. The guy who paid you has no way to write it off (no proof) so he pays more taxes.

No. If I'm going to break one of the precepts I hold, it has to be for something more precious than money.

Right On!

Of course it's cheating. Just because there is no paper trail to prove it, doesn't mean you're not legally obligated to pay taxes. If you don't keep records and report your income, you're cheating. If the employer doesn't keep records and report it they're also breaking the law- and cheating by not paying workman's compensation and other liability insurances, also.

Oh, *blush* I suspected I may upset a few people.

People hiring contract labor (even for the long term) don't need to offer them benefits like workman's compensation. I thought that if the employer sent no 1099, and chose to pay tax on that money rather than write it off as an expense, you didn't have to pay it. What if your contract laborer is under 18?

People threaten me and so I pay them money so they probably won't attack me. Why on earth would I pay extortion without the threat? Of course, without the threat it wouldn't be extortion and it's possible that I'd look at what they do with the money and decide they're a reasonable charity. It'll take a number of years for the memory of being threatened to fade however.

Wow, that's an interesting perspective. I'd never heard it put that way, but it makes me understand a little better how opponents of taxation feel. But do you think that people would give enough money to the government for the government to really be able to do anything with it, if it weren't required? I guess private companies or foundations might pick up some of the slack...

If any one contractor earns less than $600 in the year, then the employer is not required to file a 1099 for them- if the person working makes more than $400 combined from all the different self-employed/independent contractor work they do, they're required to report it, with or with out paperwork. So, when I hire someone in for just a few weeks, and she makes $200, I include that $200 in my business expenses:wages category, but I do not file a 1099 for her. If she works for someone else during the year, and makes $300 from them, she's required to detail the whole $500. The age of the contractor (presuming they are legally allowed to work) comes into play in determining whether or not they're a dependent, whether or not they file at all, I guess, but if they file, then the rules are the same.

I've been an independent contractor / self-employed, for most of my adult life, and now, hire others. The tax penalties for working this way are great- you pay an inflated self-employment tax, which includes Social Security tax, but you don't get to deduct that SS tax like wage earners do. You pay into the unemployment compensation pool, it's near impossible to pull back out of it. If it was very important to me, I would lobby to change the rules. But I haven't, so I follow them instead. I think it's my duty to pay into the system, since I want public schools, roads, police, etc. If I want it to be my duty to determine the fair rates for paying into this system then I can get involved in the political processes and bodies which determine this- there are plenty of advocacy groups for the self-employed to which I could lend my voice and efforts. If I don't do take those opportunities, then it's not really reasonable for me to just start writing my own tax-code for myself.

If someone doesn't write your wages off as a business expense, do you still pay the tax, or do they? I don't understand that part. What if your employer says "I'll take care of the taxes, so you don't have to pay anything"?

As I understand the deal, it's a non-sensible statement, 'I'll pay the taxes...' and is almost certainly illegal. One is taxed on their income, according to varying percentages and mitigating factors based on total income, family size, and many other bizarre and complicated things. Each person in the US is required by law to report their income, again according to weird byzantine formulae (or they're exempt based on same, but even still, unless you're a dependent with no income, you have to file paperwork to claim that you're exempt). An employer cannot free you of that legal obligation. They can't "take care of the taxes" for you. It just doesn't work that way. What they're doing may come out in your favor, and probably their own as well (or else they wouldn't be doing it) but it's more than likely not legal, and if it's in both your and their favor, it's probably cheating everyone else who pays their taxes.

no

So in other words, there is absolutely no legal way a person can have income, but not have to pay taxes? Why do you have to file paperwork if you are exempt?

How did I get myself in the position of talking about tax law? What the hell do I know about it? I'm just telling you how I *think* it works. You have to *file* and tell the big boys how much you made, if you made anything, (probably anything above some really paltry low figure). If you do that, and you made little enough that you don't owe taxes, that's kind of all there is to that. You still file, and show them that you don't owe them anything- otherwise, how would they know that you're not just holding out on them? I vaguely remember it used to go something like - if you didn't have to pay taxes last year, and you won't have to again this year (because you made little enough again) then maybe you don't have to file. But little enough is something like less than $500 over the whole year, or something absurd like that. I don't know. You can read all about it on irs.gov, I'm sure. There's probably a link called "who has to file." I'm pretty sure there won't be something that says "if your employer paid your taxes for you, you don't have to file," that still doesn't make any sense to me. But, again, what the hell do I know about it? I've just researched it enough to make sure I keep my own business completely above the boards.

Yes, I think people would step up and do what needed doing, either as foundations, corporations, or simply as individuals.

I really wouldn't know how to go about it. I'm not opposed to the idea. I just wouldn't know where to start.

Maybe for just a year...

I'd pay the correct amount. But I wouldn't bother keeping track of, say, business vs. personal use of fully depreciated assets, which I'm supposed to do but which make no difference to the final total.

There are two kinds of tax under discussion here.

First is regular income tax, which is the responsibility of the employee, and which is calculated according to an arcane formula which can take pages and pages of forms, and sometimes result in a negative total tax liability.

Second are fixed-rate assessments, which include FICA (Social Security tax) and Medicare. These are (mostly) flat rate taxes.

There are two common ways for FICA and Medicare to be paid: for normal (W2) employees, the employer pays half the FICA themselves, and withholds the other half plus the Medicare from the employee's paycheck, to be sent to the IRS. For contract (1099) employees, the employee is responsible for both halves of the FICA plus the Medicare, even if no 1099 is actually filed. So your employer does often have the choice of whether to deal with a certain portion of your taxes for you.

Since FICA affects everyone, but not everyone owes regular income tax, this means there are some people who don't have to file because their employer chose to pay them on a W2, who would have to file if they were paid on a 1099 or under the table.

This situation is only for people who don't interact with the regular tax code. With respect to regular income tax, the IRS is not interested in any legalities about your employment, and the question of how your employer accounts for your income does not affect your taxes.

no

I'm only 15 and can't get a job for income by the child labor laws here.

Of course you can legallly earn income without paying taxes. A number of war-tax-resisters do this by earning less than the cut-off level for tax payments.

Hell yes.

take ONE guess

No, because it would not be worth the possible risk.