Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Honest Businessmen Cheat?

From Balloon Juice:
The Affordable Care Act had a provision requiring small business to issue a 1099 to every vendor with whom they spent over $600. This caused an outcry and the House passed a screwed up repeal provision, which the Senate will probably also approve.
Now that this odious regulatory burden is about to be lifted from the shoulders of small business, perhaps it’s time to mention a little fact that’s not often discussed—small businesses cheat on their taxes, a lot.
In the past few years, I’ve seen the following: A technology company owner who had his kids’ nanny on the payroll as an employee. A landlord using his business account to pay for supplies for a major home remodel. Numerous service providers who offer a discount for cash. And many, many SUV “company cars” driven by moms running errands.
There are plenty of small businessmen who pay their full honest share of taxes (I’m one of them), but let’s not pretend that the real reason that we’re repealing the 1099 provision of the ACA is “paperwork”. The ability to cheat on their taxes is just taken as a given by a lot of small businessmen. It’s sort of like the small business version of a farm subsidy.
That was so well-said, I had to quote the whole thing.

No comments:

Post a Comment