Many years ago when I worked as a line worker at Verizon, I got into numerous political debates – sometimes heated – with conservative coworkers, and in particular, with a guy named Chuck. Despite our disagreements I considered Chuck more of a friend than an adversary. Indeed, other than the disagreements that we frequently experienced, we had a cordial relationship.

Now, in order to fully appreciate the point I want to make about one of those arguments, it’s necessary that I share with you some information on Chuck’s background. He was a married middle-aged Hispanic White man who, at the time, lived most of his life in Ventura County. He had inherited from his father hundreds of thousands of dollars, along with multiple rental apartments in the Ventura and Oxnard areas. Moreover, Chuck’s wife also worked at Verizon, even earning a higher salary than he. This was because she worked in management and, for the most part, management employees, on average, earned significantly more than hourly paid employees. The point I’m making is this: Chuck and his family earned hundreds of thousands of dollars per year – and this was over 25 years ago!

It came about one day that, during one of our lunch breaks, Chuck, while reading a newspaper article on welfare cheating, expressed his outrage toward a woman who was caught cheating. He angrily characterized such cheaters as “low-life” and “worthless.” I allowed him to vent his anger a few minutes before offering an opposing position. The first thing I told him was that his stance bordered on hypocrisy.

You see, Chuck apparently forgot some of the tips that he, as an experienced owner/landlord, provided me (a new and inexperienced landlord) to assist me in minimizing my income tax liability. Specifically, Chuck told me that all the expenses his family incurred at his residence were, for income tax purposes, attached to one or more of his rental properties. He had recently, for instance, placed new carpet in his four bedroom residence, but on his income tax forms, he showed the carpet being installed in one or more of his rental units. New carpet in rental units are deductible; new carpet in one’s residence is not.

In short, Chuck was showing me how to cheat! I told him that he was being hypocritical when railing against welfare cheaters while at the same time cheating himself on federal and state income tax returns. In fact, I suggested that his cheating was more reprehensible than the welfare cheaters since he was economically well off and welfare cheaters typically are not. I (somewhat angrily) told him that his level of greed exceeded that of the welfare cheaters.

1. Where do you stand on this issue?

2. In your opinion, how common is welfare or income tax cheating? (If possible, try to research this question before providing an uninformed opinion.)

3. Is such cheating considered deviant behavior? (You might review the relative nature of deviance for this question}