Re: IRS regulations in business

James Rogers (jamesr@best.com)
Wed, 23 Jul 1997 00:06:38 -0700


At 08:44 PM 7/22/97 -0400, Abraham Moses Genen wrote:
>It seems that the IRS regulations as it relates to independent contractors
>is as complex as it is because of the abuse of the independent contractors
>provisions by many small, virtual (and fly-by-night) organizations.
>
>Particularly, I've found that a large number of sales and migrant farm
>organizations tend to improperly hire young people as independent
>contractors in order to avoid many labor regulations. In an inordinately
>large number of incidents these young and quite unsophisticated people are
>exploited and ultimately abandoned without any assets by these
>unscrupulous companys throughout the country. Regrettably, the US
>Department of Labor and the IRS lack the staffing to prevent most of these
>horrible (approaching slavery) human rights abuses.
>
>As with many things the reality is far more complex and brutal than the
>ideal and the theory.
>
>Think about it some more.

I have thought about it and I strongly disagree with your assessment on a
number of levels.

First of all, I disagree with the concept in principle. The abuses of a
tiny minority do not justify retribution against the entire population.
And I find the IRS regulations to be mostly irrelevant when applied to the
hypothetical scenario you describe above. I'm not sure I even understand
how being an independent contractor makes migrant workers sudden victims of
abuse.

Secondly, I disagree with your statements as a matter of reality. The IRS
could not give a damn about the miserably small amount of tax revenues (if
any) generated by migrant farm workers. The IRS *does* care a great deal
about the tax revenue possibilities of the professional independent
contractor segment
which often generates taxable income in the 30+% range. I don't think it
would be a stretch to say that what the IRS really wants is greater control
over the taxability and finances of independent contractors, who by their
nature enjoy significantly more (theoretical) flexibility in such matters.

And lastly, you make it sound like companies that hire people as
independent contractors are some type of new "bogeymen". The crimes of the
IRS far, far exceed that of the companies they purportedly accuse.
It is simply inexcusable for the IRS to punish an entire industry and
professional working population based on an anecdotal situation involving
migrant workers.

Yet another independent professional,

-James Rogers
jamesr@best.com