Re: IT's late and I'm kinda dumb
I don't know for sure about the US, but in most countries the employer is liable for deducting the tax from the employee's pay and submitting it to the revenue service - you only get the post-tax amount in your bank account. This makes life much easier for the revenue services - they can chase a (relatively) small number of companies for large numbers rather than lots of individuals.
And - if a court later decides that the companies gave employees benefits which should have been taxable, and the tax wasn't paid, the revenue service is going to try to recover that tax from the companies involved. The companies will end up paying it, and it's very difficult if not impossible for them to recover it from the employees, some of whom are probably no longer employees. Generally they don't try, for obvious reasons.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
