If they don't pay them, why should we??!!

[Eric5273]

Just a question here:

Are these guys guilty of serious tax crimes, like not filing or lying on their returns, or is this more of the type that Tom Daschale was guilty of, which is like not paying payroll tax on the money you pay your babysitter or the neighborhood kid that mowes your lawn?

I would guess that 90% of us are guilty of that second type, and I don't really consider someone a criminal for that. I'm sure all of us have paid cash to someone for something at some point, or have taken cash from someone for something and not reported it to the IRS. Did you ever have a yard sale? Did you charge sales tax on those items? Did you ever hire a babysitter? Did you send her a 1099 at the end of the year? IMO, these are rather petty tax crimes.