Racket wrote:
Fat hurts wrote:
Why would I need it? You don't ask for an EIN when you hire someone to perform a service at your house unless you are the one employing that person. He has his own business. It's no different from hiring a plumber or an electrician.
The part about opening a bank account isn't really true. You have to verify your identity in someway to open a bank account at a legit FDIC bank. And most employers will ask you to verify your identity with some form of ID unless they're intentionally trying to hire illegal immigrants.
Not having some form of ID is a big drawback and a lot of poor people don't have one. The actual solution is to make sure that everyone has easy and free access to getting a government issued ID instead of pretending like you can get by perfectly fine without one. The problem is that Republicans don't want that either (for obvious reasons) so they make sure that DMVs or courthouses have the most inconvenient times ever.
You may be right about an ordinary account at an FDIC bank. I know I've opened online brokerage accounts without an ID.
You don't need a photo ID for employment. If you look at the I-9 form, there are many acceptable forms of ID that do not require a government-issued photo ID.