not sure if "fair" is the right word, but it just seems kind of strange to me to treat something that is done due to lack of a job as a job. next thing they will be trying to tax lemonade stands.

Begging is an illegal activity in most jurisdictions. This means its either untaxable (the I.R.S. will never know) or 100% taxed (the police will take away ALL of your earnings as "illegal income"). Street performers, on the other hand, have the opportunity to keep most of their income by agreeing to report their income and pay taxes on it. If you file the appropriate permits with your local government, you can receive income as a street performer, pay a portion in taxes, and thus earn an income while being free of police intrusion. A street performer who does not file a street performance permit (also called a "busking" permit) is essentially a beggar who is providing something of value in exchange for the donations. Unless the jurisdiction has no law against street performers, the practice is just as illegal as begging. PBS developed a site in which they brought in a bunch of panhandlers to discuss panhandling, "NeedCom" (http://www.pbs.org/weblab/needcom/). The areas on taxation are rather interesting, as many of the panhandlers thought it sounded like a good idea, but they were pretty sure that it would be hard to get everyone to be able to manage accurate income records. While not all panhandlers are addicts/alcoholics, even a willing addict/alcoholic would have trouble making accurate totals for accurate taxation ("ouch thats a bad hangover, now did that guy give me a $10 last night or a $5?").