The Worst Cases Of Tax Fraud In US History. Who Built Your House?
 
 

Americas Watchdog has just released the findings of a two year investigation into homebuilders hiring undocumented construction workers to build our nations residential housing, and the results are grim. In many to most cases, not only was the worker undocumented or underpaid, but in many cases the homebuilder failed to abide by federal laws regarding work place conditions and or pay federal or state taxes on the workers. These will be the worst cases of tax fraud and or federal standard labor act violations in US History.

Americas Watchdog, an advocacy organization focused on corporate responsibility and fair play has just released the results of a two year investigation into national and or regional US homebuilders hiring undocumented construction workers and or not paying federal or state taxes on the individuals, and the results are grim. According to Thomas Martin the founder of Americas Watchdog ( Http://AmericasWatchdog.Com ), "these will be the largest tax fraud cases and or Fair Standard Labor Act lawsuits in U.S. History. In fact it goes well beyond massive tax fraud/FSLA issues, its plain and simple exploitation of individuals who would do anything to feed their families back in Mexico or Central America, and the companies just made more money". According to Martin, " the homebuilders use subcontractors, who were little more than labor brokers. These "subcontractors" in many cases classify the workers as "1099 sub-contractors". The problem; according to Martin; "these were not citizens,these workers were never sub-contractors, they were supervised or managed by the actual builder, or the job site foreman and workers and the taxpayers were royaly taken advantage of.

 

The question now becomes how many people at the corporate level will go to jail, and how much will the homebuilders and other companies owe the Federal Government or the States billions in back taxes or unpaid taxes?

Because many national homebuilders are publicly traded corporations, this may also create a title wave of potential shareholder lawsuits seeking to hold corporate officials accountable for their possible mis-deeds or criminal acts.

According to Americas Watchdog "the workers are frequently put in "crews" by labor coyotes acting as construction "sub-contractors" and these workers are then assigned to framing, sheet-rocking, roofing, plumbing or other duties on the residential work site. At the end of the week the "labor coyote-licensed sub-contractor pays the crew or one person on the crew a check for the job done-I.E. a house framed, sheet-rocked house, painted house, etc, frequently with no consideration of taxes, over-time laws, etc. They just take what they can get, go to a check cashing facility (where they are ripped off again) split the proceeds with their co-workers and typically send half of their earnings back to Mexico or Central America. No taxes or overtime paid by anyone. In another situation just as bad, the labor coyote/sub-contractor tells the undocumented worker that he will have to work 60 hours to get paid for 40 (with taxes with-held). The problem; the social security number belonging to the undocumented worker belongs to someone else.

As an example to show the nation how severe this problem is; in the State of Arizona, arguably the nations former hottest real estate market, only 1% of all carpenters are unionized. To Martin; "this is incomprehensible or impossible". However according to Carpenters Union officials in Arizona it is accurate. So who paid taxes on the other 99%? Who knows. The same situation exists in California, Nevada, Florida, Georgia, The Carolina's and other parts of the United States. In the Southwest, West, Southeast and other regions, undocumented workers appear to make up the core work force at many to most larger residential housing job sites. Martin estimates the size of the problem to be in the millions of undocumented construction workers, and the homebuilders or related companies will have tens of billions of tax liability in unpaid state of federal taxes.

So how is it that this has happened? According to Martin, "its all about money or making more of it at any cost". He went onto say that "because residential home construction and or mortgages/refinances have been such a huge part of the economy for the last five years, I will venture a guess and say the Federal Government and or many states gave the homebuilders a free pass. There was no other way this could happen; it would be like missing a crazed elephant running out to center field during a little league baseball game and no one noticing. It would be impossible. But exploiting undocumented construction workers, and the US taxpayer are reality, and has been a reality for a decade or more".

The US Senate has within the last week shelved any possibility of immigration reform during this session of Congress. To Martin this is "incomprehensible" and an injustice to the undocumented workers and the US taxpayer, who picks up the tab for workers who pay little or no taxes and or employers/homebuilders who just make more money. For homebuilders its the perfect situation because the undocumented workers have no one to complaint to, and or if they do, they are simply deported. (Currently Cash From The United States To Mexico Is The Second Largest Part Of Mexico's Economy)

Americas Watchdog thinks its time for the nation to deal with the immigration issue and time to right the wrongs of the present and the past. Law firms in every state with FSLA experience in every state, or Law firms with experience in securities fraud are encouraged to contact Americas Watchdog for more information. Americas Watchdog would also like to hear from State Treasures and the IRS to get the ball moving on collecting back taxes and or prosecuting corporate officials involved in this massive wrong doing. While not limited to the residential construction industry, according to Martin, "its the perfect place to start because its so obvious as far as what has happened". Local, State and National News Reporters are encouraged to go out to larger residential construction sites to see for yourself.

Rewards are possible for current or former employees of homebuilders, building industry executives, construction site superintendents, accountants or others who have specific proof of tax fraud. If you have specific information about tax fraud or mistreatment of workers please contact Americas Watchdog at e-mail protected from spam bots . Americas Watchdog stands ready to assist the media, State and Federal Agencies, Law Firms and others with our information in the hopes of correcting this horrible situation.