Usually when one thinks about the black market, the first word that pops into our minds is illegal. But most people don’t know the actual meaning and the usefulness behind “off the book” economic activities. Usually illegal economic activities do not relate at all with criminal activities (or drugs to be more specific) but with jobs that sprawl in squatter communities which the government usually deny as part of a state or try to eradicate them due to the lack of modernization and sanity that characterizes them. The living conditions of people in squatter communities are far from modern when the government is against them, usually with no running water, electricity, or adequate housing is available. It isn´t until the government recognizes these societies as a city, that residents demolish their shacks and invest into making their homes into a 21st century equipped house since there are no more fears that the government might bulldoze the area. But despite these hardships, the conditions of these towns cause several job opportunities that fit the needs of the people. For example in Makoko, Lagos, people cannot simply go to the store walking or driving, so some people get paid to cross the lake in a special canoe that resists the corrosive water of the lake and bring back staples, soda, beer, cleaning utensils, and other items. But these types of activities also require the international market. For example the selling of smoked fish in the streets of Lagos is done with fish caught and sent from all the way to Europe to the place where women sell it. Even though these jobs seem small, the economic underground has provided jobs for more than 1.8 billion people with acceptable profits. The street market, being the most common, has transformed into big roadside businesses due to their sophisticated trading network in Lagos. Many big companies have acknowledge the power of street bending and have used it, for example mobile phone companies use it to sell recharge cards with which a seller gets from 34$ to 270 dollars much more than the minimum wages of the country. In my opinion, a solution for the taxation problem of the world with the informal economy would be to start by legalizing all squatter communities because that would make all the residents to improve their housing and their lifestyle. Then the government should start lowly taxing the jobs that the underground economy creates and increase it a little every once in a while.