JOHN LINDER: “It is over a trillion dollars right there in the underground economy. Just three portions of it in a recent book…”

“It is over a trillion dollars right there in the underground economy. Just three portions of it in a recent book published by an economy, pornography, illicit drugs and illegal labor constitute a trillion dollar economy. When I speak to groups, I always ask if there is a banker in the room. If a banker raises his or her hand, I say everybody follow her to her bank on Friday afternoon at 4 o'clock in the afternoon you will see it. And they always just smile and grin because the contractor is coming out paying off subs in cash. It happens outside of every bank in America that does retail banking. It is huge. We do not want to find new places to tax. We think everybody ought to be paying fairly. Government's principal role ought to be neutral, not pick winners and losers. That is why we tax services, as well as goods. We tax Internet sales, as well as catalog sales, as well as local sales. We do not believe that the guy down the street who builds a building, hires their kids, goes to a church, votes at our elections should be put at a 7 percent disadvantage same as a dot-com. So we say this bill is drafted with the first principle, that government's role is neutral, not picking winners and losers.”