Chaim
> That data isn’t relevant for frum jews
Well, it is a baseline. If you have better numbers, bring them. You may be correcting, saying if a Yid runs a store, he will be more profitable … but then if the same smart Yid runs a financial firm, he might also do it better.
> where you look at it as shady morally but its completely legal based on the law.
As we are both afraid to bring specific examples, I am not sure if we disagree. In general, US tax law is non-patriotic – there is no mitzva to pay more. So, everything legal is fine. Say, if I can hire my kid and can justify his salary according to going rate, even if he would not be able to find such a job somewhere else, it is fine. But if he is not actually doing anything, that is not ok, even if IRS most likely is not going to check it out. Or count how many miles I am driving for business.
> I have the same yetzer hara and I have a college educated career.
Say, I have a professional business. I am paid $100K for my expertise + I earn $50K from profit from my workers + $20K by tweaking car and home expenses. These $20K are 10% of my income. If I want to increase my earning, I’ll be better off hiring 2 more assistants and do more business instead of finding loopholes. If I’ll want to do a worse product by spending less time, I am risking doing a professional mistake and ruining my application. So, I am mostly busy with my yetzer tov, trying to provide better service.
Now, if I have a business buying widgets for $900K and then selling them for $1M and paying $50K for 2 assistants – my profits are just $50K.
BUT if I hire an illegal; if I pay my workers in cash; if I use worse quality goods – I can double or triple my income with zero effort. Of course, I am tempted. And if everyone in this business is doing the same – you may not be able to survive working honestly.