A Statement from EST Geiger on the UBC Study on Tax Fraud

03.02.2020 jwatson

“Today, the UBC announced the results of a study on tax fraud and it showed on the national level what we have been fighting against here in the NYC region for years— the enormous scale and impact of tax fraud on the American family and in our communities. Lost revenue from wage theft means less money for public resources that should be dedicated to schools, infrastructure, veterans, and police and firefighters. We will do everything we can to show our commitment to the hardworking men and women in NY that we will stand up for them and protect their services in the face of cheating construction industry players.” –Joe Geiger, Executive-Secretary Treasurer

The UBC commissioned this report to measure the incidence of tax fraud across the United States and the costs associated with this fraud, including tax losses, revenue shortfalls, and lost wages. The report, which relies on household surveys and 2017 payroll records, found instances of tax fraud on 12.4% to 20.5% of construction sites, affecting 1.3 to 2.16 million workers nationwide. It also found that tax fraud robbed workers of at least $811.1 million in overtime pay, offloaded approximately $3.5 billion of businesses’ employment taxes onto workers, and led to combined state and federal tax losses of approximately $8.4 billion. The full report is available here.