Paying workers under the table is tax fraud. That’s the message United Brotherhood of Carpenters delivered April 7 at a noon-hour rally outside Portland City Hall. Misclassifying workers as independent contractors is also tax fraud, Carpenters union leaders said. And both are categories of wage theft.
For years the Carpenters union has tried to raise public awareness that wage theft is also tax fraud. This year the union held more than 100 similar actions around the country from April 6-18.
The Portland city hall rally featured remarks from an IRS special agent and drew supportive words from Portland City Council President Jamie Dunphy, Metro Councilor Ashton Simpson, and Oregon State Representative Willy Chotzen, a Democrat representing Southeast Portland.
“Tax fraud and wage theft are not victimless crimes,” said Eric Morgan, government affairs representative for the newly formed North Coast Regional Council of Carpenters. “They hurt workers, undercut responsible contractors and drain resources from our communities.”
IRS special agent Cameron Wall said employment tax fraud is a serious crime that threatens the integrity of the U.S. tax system and disadvantages honest businesses. “Every year across the United States, state and federal tax authorities lose hundreds of millions of dollars to these fraudulent payroll tax evasion schemes,” Wall said.
A bill passed by the Oregon Legislature last year is meant to improve enforcement of wage theft by making general contractors liable for wage theft committed by their subcontractors.
Members of Portland City Council are also working with the Carpenters to draft an ordinance that would help crack down on wage theft. The ordinance would bring greater transparency to city public works contracts, Morgan told the Labor Press, because general contractors would have to disclose everyone who’s going to be on site, who’s furnishing the labor, and whether subcontractors had paid state or federal penalties for labor violations.
