Nobody likes a grass.

Nobody has to know

Surely that depends upon the circumstances: grassing a neighbour for $2.50 tax evasion, probably not; not informing the authoritieis of the whereabouts of a child rapist - you may find yourself alone on the side of the fence that believe that grassing is inappropriate.

Of course.

Hmm. I wonder how the company explains away UK bank payments?

I wonder what would happen if they got audited.

Well, I guess I don't want to stick it to the Man that much because the not paying tax aspect is bugging me.

I actually know of some Americans living in Canada who do this: they are paid by the US company for the job they do here in US dollars into a US account, and don't pay any Canadian tax. Meanwhile, they send their kids to public school, make use of all the health services, etc.

Gotta admit that bothers me, esp. in light of the funding cuts to schools etc. It just seems incredibly cynical.

Sure, it's context dependent. I disagree with ac here, some guy doing the odd job for beer money level cash is ok, but wholesale tax evasion by middle class people on salaries is not.

I guess that's why CRA have a 'rat' line

I'd dob them in, no question. It is something that costs all of us, they deserve to be deported.

http://www.immigrationwatchcanada.or...sition=138:138

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/informa...aud/report.asp

Who do you see as claiming to be superior Mr High-Horse? Oink was being his usual sardonic/sarcastic self, and I was just feeding off his post. (Hence the )

America and Canada have a tax treaty which might take care of their situation. Also schooling is paid through property taxes. Healthcare is provincial, and they can't get free health services without provincial coverage, however, their company might be paying for health coverage for them.

People might brag about not paying taxes, but in the end we may find that they are actually paying just as much as anyone else, only in a different way.

Everyone wants to be seen to stick it to the man!

I once met a British person who was doing just this.

He'd managed to make a nice life for himself doing cash in hand work, it seems like many Canadians in his line of work (building and cleaning) were doing the same thing. While I wouldn't do it myself, the guy had a nice life, and it didn't even occur to me to even consider doing anything. I don't see any reason why I should try and take someones life away from them because they didn't give some money to the government.

We also have a moral and legal duty to other road users to drive safely and within the speed limits.

Of course, not everyone does this and see it as only illegal if they get caught.

I suspect a large percentage of people working cash in hand are probably not legally allowed to work anyway through immigration status (no work permit) or claiming disability that prevents them getting employment. The rest are probably those working a second job without paying the extra taxes.

Personally, I wouldn't say what I'd do because I don't know. On the one hand, someone making a few extra $'s a week keep afloat doesn't seem a lot, but times it by 100,000 (a low-ball guess for Toronto) and that number is not trivial. The less people paying tax, the more tax everyone else pays.

Also, why should I have to pay taxes and not them. Oh wait, I'll get EI and CPP if or when I need them. They won't!

Maybe he'd have had not quite such a nice life paying taxes, but you and the rest of us) paid a little more because of him. The Canadian government knows who much they need from us, and how much of that we're paying. Dividing that by the number of taxpayers gives a rough guide to how much each of us pays. Less people, more money from each person to make the same total.

Simple economics (yet I failed it at school ).

I suppose I've known a hundred or more people in this situation, I think it'd be odd not to meet such a person over the course of a few weeks in Canada. I don't think it's something that I should be doing anything about. What would you do if you discovered that someone you knew had paid to park for an hour but had stayed for an hour and a quarter?

Why would you be taking someone`s life away from them? They may have a little less money in their pocket and the government may have a little more money to spend on educating little ones, building infrastructure, ensuring the population`s health is looked after etc.

I take it you also believe it is OK for people to cheat the government out of benefits etc or is it just OK to not pay the government its due but not OK to actually take money from it (despite the fact that the net result is the same).