“I worked for an uncle last year who paid me in cash. The BP guy wanted my tax statements, but how can I pay taxes if everything I earned was in cash?” Crab fisherman from Louisiana on proof required for receiving money from the government mediator from the $20 billion BP forked over

Income.  It’s called income.  Whether cash or check, one should report it.  However, the Gulf Coast fishermen are struggling to obtain payouts for lost wages and business income because they can’t produce an income tax return that shows what they made.  Pundits are fretting, “Oh, what times are these when oil giants demand proof that you made income before reimbursing you for lost income!”  When you don’t pay your taxes, well, there is a downside.  Sometimes an oil spill causes it all to percolate to the surface, as it were.  Some are worried that filing a claim will raise an IRS eyebrow and

they are correct. Reimbursement for income is also income.  Now there’s an interesting scenario. Even if the government mediator paid the fishermen without documentation, said mediator will be filing the required 1099 for the payments doled out, which means that the IRS will know that you received a chunk of change.  Such chunk will unleash a big, “Wait a minute!” even in the least astute agent.  How did you get this amount of reimbursement for lost income  if you never reported income before?  Oh, what a tangled web!   One crafty fellow who was selling hundreds of pounds of cooked blue crab meat each week out of his garage (cash only) explained,  “That puts you in the system. If the numbers don’t add up, people who have not been paying taxes are going to regret it.” Yes, from that point forward they will need to pay taxes.  They may even often a tad for the years of flying under the IRS radar in the Gulf Coast world of cash. Oh, what times are these when these kinds of requirements are imposed on citizens earning dough.  Wait a minute . . .

About mmjdiary

Professor Marianne Jennings is an emeritus professor of legal and ethical studies from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, retiring in 2011 after 35 years of teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in ethics and the legal environment of business. During her tenure at ASU, she served as director of the Joan and David Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics from 1995-1999. In 2006, she was appointed faculty director for the W.P. Carey Executive MBA Program. She has done consulting work for businesses and professional groups including AICPA, Boeing, Dial Corporation, Edward Jones, Mattel, Motorola, CFA Institute, Southern California Edison, the Institute of Internal Auditors, AIMR, DuPont, AES, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Motorola, Hy-Vee Foods, IBM, Bell Helicopter, Amgen, Raytheon, and VIAD. The sixth edition of her textbook, Case Studies in Business Ethics, was published in February 2011. The ninth edition of her textbook, Business: lts Legal, Ethical and Global Environment was published in January 2011. The 23rd edition of her book, Business Law: Principles and Cases, will be published in January 2013. The tenth edition of her book, Real Estate Law, will also be published in January 2013. Her book, A Business Tale: A Story of Ethics, Choices, Success, and a Very Large Rabbit, a fable about business ethics, was chosen by Library Journal in 2004 as its business book of the year. A Business Tale was also a finalist for two other literary awards for 2004. In 2000 her book on corporate governance was published by the New York Times MBA Pocket Series. Her book on long-term success, Building a Business Through Good Times and Bad: Lessons from Fifteen Companies, Each With a Century of Dividends, was published in October 2002 and has been used by Booz, Allen, Hamilton for its work on business longevity. Her latest book, The Seven Signs of Ethical Collapse was published by St. Martin’s Press in July 2006 and has been a finalist for two book awards. Her weekly columns are syndicated around the country, and her work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune, the New York Times, Washington Post, and the Reader's Digest. A collection of her essays, Nobody Fixes Real Carrot Sticks Anymore, first published in 1994 is still being published. She has been a commentator on business issues on All Things Considered for National Public Radio. She has served on four boards of directors, including Arizona Public Service (1987-2000), Zealous Capital Corporation, and the Center for Children with Chronic Illness and Disability at the University of Minnesota. She was appointed to the board of advisors for the Institute of Nuclear Power Operators in 2004 and served on the board of trustees for Think Arizona, a public policy think tank. She has appeared on CNBC, CBS This Morning, the Today Show, and CBS Evening News. In 2010 she was named one of the Top 100 Thought Leaders in Business Ethics by Trust Across America. Her books have been translated into four different languages. She received the British Emerald award for authoring one of their top 50 articles in management publications, chosen from over 15,000 articles. Personal: Married since 1976 to Terry H. Jennings, Maricopa County Attorney’s Office Deputy County Attorney; five children: Sarah, Sam, and John, and the late Claire and Hannah Jennings.
This entry was posted in Classic Quotes. Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.