In article ,
"Stormin Mormon" wrote:

Supposing there is a contractor who does cash business. And
another one who pays taxes. Here's how the two scenarios
play out:

Contractor one. Cash business. Charges $100 for the job. He
uses the money to buy highly taxed fuel for his truck, and
then stops on the way home to buy food for his family. He
stops by the department store to buy some toys for his kids,
and supports local business. Your job is done the next day.

Contractor two. Pays his taxes. He can't do the job for
$100. He has to charge $130. Part of the extra money goes to
pay the book keeper at the office, who fills out all the
government forms. He pays income tax on the money that he
takes home, which means that about $30 ou tof the $100 you
paid him goes to the state and fed. And then he "pays
taxes" by charging you $10.40 in sales tax, which the state
requires. He turns that money over to government. Which
means that your $100 job is now up to $140.40. There is an
insurance surcharge, and a government paper work handling
surcharge. So, the job is up to about $160 now. Meantime,
the local department store is laying off workers, becuase
Mr. Contractor isn't buying toys and videos for his kids any
more. So much of the job is going to pay taxes.

The state hires two more code enforcement workers, whose job
it is to call Mr. Contractor into the office, and go over
his books. Now, there will be a 5 day delay before he can
start the job. Because he and his book keeper will be in the
audit office. Meantime, your roof is leaking, and a lot of
stuff is water damaged while the contractor is in the audit
office.

I hope you feel better, knowing that the contractor pays his
fair share. By the way, he pays it by adding to the cost of
your job.

I'll forward your comments to the IRS for review, Chris. I imagine
they'll say it's fine for you to not pay taxes, since in your
magnanimity you're saving your customers so much money.