BATR  April 2 2014

As the deadline for filing yearly income taxes is rapidly approaching, businesses especially hard pressed to make a profit in a depressed economy struggle with their tax compliance. Reporting legitimate deductions and costs is the easy part. When you are losing money, disclosing a diminished income stream based upon lower margins, is not a difficult decision. Nevertheless, small enterprises burdened with government regulation costs and tax obligations, often are unable to conduct business and retain a net return. Self-proprietorships frequently are so scared that many look to the cash underground economy to hide income earnings.

This shadow commerce, practiced throughout the world, is the real economy. Actually, in the United States, tax compliance is quite high by comparison. With the acceptance of instruments of credit, the banking system has become more of a tax reporting service than a financier of a healthy economy. The taxman would have you believe that voluntary transactions in cash constitute a black market in illegal dealing. Casting the dispersion of seedy activities upon the motivation to subsist is a common practice of governmental revenue agents.

Building upon this attitude, a deceptive title to a USA report, $2 trillion underground economy aids recovery, would have you think constructive criticism returned to the mainstream press. Sorry to disappoint, you can always count on the Gannett media to be a government mouthpiece. Continue reading →