On Tue, 23 Sep 2025 22:17:25 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:
On Tue, 23 Sep 2025 13:28:09 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
But yes, the reasons everybody suspects are bank commissions and tax
avoidance.
“Tax avoidance” is different from “tax evasion”. The first one is not
paying tax that you don’t have to; the second one is not paying tax that >> you *do* have to.
The first one is legal; the second one is not.
And you need a good lawyer to tell the difference... Dick the Butcher had
it right.
On Tue, 23 Sep 2025 13:41:26 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
In the UK we are deluged with an influx of 'Turkish Barbers' and
haircutters.
Who only take cash. How that so many can exist and still be profitable
is accounted for by the fact that they are ideal to launder drug money
with.
I keep thinking about the fine-art world, and the silly prices regularly
paid for items at auctions. Is there some aspect of money-laundering going
on there as well? Hard to tell, when the goods all too often go to an “unknown buyer”.
Until some name turns up in a later Panama-Papers-style mass leak of--
secrets of the rich and famous ...
On Tue, 23 Sep 2025 22:08:59 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
One has to wonder what effects has on the app behaviour if it knows how
much one is tipped and how frequently. These apps study behaviour and
change things. Like if it is raining a ride becomes more expensive.
I haven't used it often enough to worry about being flagged as a poor
tipper. Before Uber and Lyft drove the taxi company out of business you
paid the driver in cash.
Before an eye operation the nurse asked who was going to pick me up. When--
I said I was going to take a cab she broke the news to me that there
weren't cabs anymore and I'd better figure out how to use Uber.
On 2025-09-24, c186282 <[email protected]> wrote:
On 9/24/25 01:06, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
On 2025-09-24, rbowman <[email protected]> wrote:
On Tue, 23 Sep 2025 22:08:59 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
One has to wonder what effects has on the app behaviour if it knows how >>>>> much one is tipped and how frequently. These apps study behaviour and >>>>> change things. Like if it is raining a ride becomes more expensive.
I haven't used it often enough to worry about being flagged as a poor
tipper. Before Uber and Lyft drove the taxi company out of business you >>>> paid the driver in cash.
Before an eye operation the nurse asked who was going to pick me up. When >>>> I said I was going to take a cab she broke the news to me that there
weren't cabs anymore and I'd better figure out how to use Uber.
I avoid Uber wherever possible in favour of the (somewhat, perhaps)
local taxi company. At least they aren't a multinational.
Seen in a local microbrewery: "Think globally, drink locally."
Not even equipped to use Uber - little flip phone.
Me too.
However there are several local taxi companies with
fair prices - that take CASH.
Most taxis here have the little dingus that takes credit cards.
On Tue, 23 Sep 2025 13:22:13 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
I read somewhere that merchants were very interested in the Bizum
system, which is a person to person instant payment method, with zero
cost; you only need the phone number of the other person.
It sounds like the M-Pesa system that the Kenyans invented. Very few
people there have bank accounts, so the mobile phone company becomes the payment processor instead. And smartphones are rare, so it’s all done via SMS.
If the auction is in Spain, the auctioneer gets the name of the buyer, because he can not make the purchase with cash, has to use traceable
money transfer methods and pay the taxes.
He still can use an intermediary.
However, maybe the auctioneer is not obligated to publish the name of
the buyer, just tell it to the tax agency.
On Wed, 24 Sep 2025 12:12:02 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
If the auction is in Spain, the auctioneer gets the name of the buyer,
because he can not make the purchase with cash, has to use traceable
money transfer methods and pay the taxes.
He still can use an intermediary.
However, maybe the auctioneer is not obligated to publish the name of
the buyer, just tell it to the tax agency.
But presumably, same as here in NZ, the tax department is legally
forbidden from sharing taxpayer records with police. You can be a criminal running a drug-smuggling racket, but so long as you pay the right taxes on your income, they are not going to snitch on you to the cops.
On 2025-09-24 22:42, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:
But presumably, same as here in NZ, the tax department is legally
forbidden from sharing taxpayer records with police. You can be a
criminal running a drug-smuggling racket, but so long as you pay
the right taxes on your income, they are not going to snitch on you
to the cops.
Eum... They will certainly cooperate if there is a court order,
otherwise they are very secretive.
On Wed, 24 Sep 2025 23:19:55 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-09-24 22:42, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:
But presumably, same as here in NZ, the tax department is legally
forbidden from sharing taxpayer records with police. You can be a
criminal running a drug-smuggling racket, but so long as you pay
the right taxes on your income, they are not going to snitch on you
to the cops.
Eum... They will certainly cooperate if there is a court order,
otherwise they are very secretive.
I think there would be limits on those court orders, too. They
couldn’t be used as evidence of illegal activity, for example.
There was the famous case of the gangster Al Capone in the USA. With
all the violent crimes he committed, the only thing the cops could
find evidence for to pin on him was ... tax evasion.
He earned lots of money in illegal ways, but his main pitfall was not
paying tax on that income. So that’s what he ended up getting jailed
for.
Here’s the actual guidance to a question from the NZ income-tax return
that I filled out earlier this year:
Question 28 Other income
If you received any other income between 1 April 2024 and 31 March
2025, show it at Question 28. This may include:
• the sale of non-FIF shares or other property
• financial arrangements
• cash jobs, payments made 'under the table', tips, bartering or
income from an illegal enterprise
• any share of partnership income as a result of capital investment
• free or discounted shares received under an employee share scheme if
your employer has not provided us with this information.
Note those “under the table” (wot? bribery?) and “illegal enterprise” bits ...
Question 28 Other income
If you received any other income between 1 April 2024 and 31 March >> 2025, show it at Question 28. This may include:
• the sale of non-FIF shares or other property
• financial arrangements
• cash jobs, payments made 'under the table', tips, bartering or >> income from an illegal enterprise
• any share of partnership income as a result of capital investment
• free or discounted shares received under an employee share
scheme if
your employer has not provided us with this information.
Note those “under the table” (wot? bribery?) and “illegal enterprise”
bits ...
No such verbiage in the Spanish tax forms or instructions, AFAIK.
On 25/09/2025 01:56, Carlos E.R. wrote:
Question 28 Other income
If you received any other income between 1 April 2024 and 31 March >>> 2025, show it at Question 28. This may include:
• the sale of non-FIF shares or other property
• financial arrangements
• cash jobs, payments made 'under the table', tips, bartering or >>> income from an illegal enterprise
• any share of partnership income as a result of capital investment
• free or discounted shares received under an employee share >>> scheme if
your employer has not provided us with this information.
Note those “under the table” (wot? bribery?) and “illegal enterprise”
bits ...
No such verbiage in the Spanish tax forms or instructions, AFAIK.
In France, they simply add 40% to your tax bill to account for the under
the table payments you then have to take to pay the tax bill.
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