During a town hall on Wednesday, Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA) was asked about illegal immigration.
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00:00Great. Next question is from Amy.
00:04Illegal immigration is killing my small business.
00:07I can't compete against people who don't pay income taxes and state taxes.
00:11How are you helping small business owners and their employees?
00:14Yeah, I absolutely agree with this.
00:16I owned restaurants for 35 years.
00:19It's what got me into politics.
00:21The local chamber of commerce asked me to go on the planning committee
00:24before I went on the city council.
00:26As a restaurant owner, it was very frustrating because I was competing against restaurants who were taking a risk.
00:33But it was a fairly calculated risk because there weren't enough enforcement officers on sales tax, on payroll tax.
00:41So I always said I'm competing against people who have a 20% cash flow advantage against me.
00:47Now, they're risking losing everything.
00:49But as my accountant, my CPA once said, well, that's a risk assessment they do.
00:53And I said, that sounds so bland like a CPA, but it really undermines things.
00:57So what we need to do is up the fines.
01:00And this is a primarily state issue.
01:03I'm trying to think where federal taxes would apply.
01:07I'm sure there's some of it.
01:08But I'd be happy to talk to you if you've got ideas because of my experience.
01:12It was like your experience and it's going on.
01:14We had hearings in the legislature when I was up there with a colleague, Mimi Walters, who came to Congress but didn't get reelected last night, about the underground economy in California.
01:26And this, it really hurts everybody because everybody should be paying the same amount.
01:32And then we should make sure that those investments are being used, the taxpayer money is being used well.
01:39But people know that they're probably not going to get audited because we don't have enough auditors.
01:44And it's ironic in sales tax because most of the transactions now are by credit cards, which are easy to follow.
01:54The restaurant business used to be famous.
01:56I never did this.
01:57It used to be called privates.
01:58What are your privates?
01:59That means how much of the cash at the end of the night do you take home and don't report it?
02:04Now, there's a methodology that's fairly accurate that the Franchise Tax Board and the Board of Equalization for different taxes go in and audit.
02:12And I had been audited so they could find out how much you're taking that you should be paying.
02:17But it's easier now, ironically, because there's a paper trail because most of these purchases, whether you buy lunch or dinner or TV, you're not paying cash for it.
02:27So it's a real statement that it's so bad, even though it's easier to hold people accountable.
02:33And then I would say some of the consequences aren't steep enough, some of the fines.
02:37But I'd be happy to talk to you about it.
02:40I'd love to have your ideas because to the degree I could work at it in my current job or get friends and colleagues in the legislature to work.
02:47It's really important.