Gov't is Making it Hard For The Little Guy Just Trying To Make Chump Change

[chips&more]

Time for a tea party!

 

[Tim9]

That reminds me of a scrap dealer in a town not far from me. He also had a welding shop and was an ornery old cuss. It came to pass that the state decided to audit him. When he didn't show up, they came to his shop and demanded that he go through all his records. He brought down several grocery bags stuffed with receipts, invoices, and the like and put them on the table. Then he threw down a set of keys and said "Here are the papers. Lock up when you leave. I'm going fishing." The tax men tried to go through the papers and finally gave up and left.

Yep, 30 years ago I did sort of the same thing at my shop. The city decided to audit me because I wasn’t paying a lot on sales taxes...so some city CPA came over and wanted my records. I cleared my desk and gave him boxes of receipts. He spent a week in my office going through boxes and pressing buttons on an adding machine. Also...fortunately for me it was raining for a few days so the leaky roof added to the whole thing. That office was a disaster.
Anyway, after a week he comes back and tells me.... “I don’t see how you’re still open. You’re loosing money.” I told him no **** and he left.
I hated paperwork so my records were a mess. The only thing I miss about having my own business is the cash and the big building. Other than that you can have it.

 

[Superburban]

Now days, they will add an extra fine for not keeping proper records.

 

[Tim9]

Now days, they will add an extra fine for not keeping proper records.

Unfortunately... the government has been using the war on drug laws to clamp down on money laundering. It’s almost impossible to even cash a 5,000 dollar check drawn on ones own account. You must jump through multiple hoops. And God help you if you live in one of those rural areas and get pulled over on the way home while carrying 5k in cash on you. Some overzealous cop can seize that cash under these Drug War laws. You’re going to spend the next ear trying to get your cash back..
It’s whacked. Everything is broken in America. There’s really no freedom anymore. One spends their life defending themselves from crap IMO.
Anyway.... we really are approaching a cashless society. And that’s not a good thing.

 

[MrWhoopee]

Back when I was Fred's foreman, before the Internet, we went through a state sales tax audit. It cost him $6k, almost entirely due to unreported out-of-state taxable purchases. When I opened my own shop, we were very careful to track out-of-state tooling purchases (taxable, mostly MSC and Rutland) and job materials (resale). We always paid the sales tax on the taxable purchases. We were audited after 4 or 5 years in business. The auditor spent a week going over our records. I noticed on Friday afternoon that he was just sitting at the desk staring into space (before smart phones). I asked how he was doing and he said that he'd found a few small things, but not nearly enough to pay his salary for the week. We were never audited again.

 

[matthewsx]

Good record keeping is essential to operating a business. I found it was worthwhile to have my bookkeeper come in once a month to make sure everything was up to date. Didn't keep me from loosing money but at least I knew where it was going

Definitely second the "cash and big building" thing, went from 4800 sqft to about 250

John

 

[Be_Zero_Be]

Sales tax on eBay purchases is bad enough but in Washington State we get to pay sales tax on the shipping as well.

 

[RJSakowski]

Sales tax on eBay purchases is bad enough but in Washington State we get to pay sales tax on the shipping as well.

Our tax accountant advised us to pay sales tax on shipping (Wisconsin). It's a sales and use tax; 5.5% at the moment but due to go up.
I pay sales tax on stuff shipped from China too.

 

[Superburban]

I pay sales tax on stuff shipped from China too.

That is something that had me wondering, does the other sites like allibaba, or what ever, have to collect the sales tax? I think they are based in china. This could give foreign companies and even more advantage over US businesses.

 

[HBilly1022]

If money is changing hands, the government always demands a cut. Remind you of any other organizations?

Where I live there are taxes on virtually everything, including most groceries. There are federal taxes of 5% and Provincial taxes of 7%. But that's not all. On some things there are Carbon taxes too and then there are the Eco fees. This one really pi$$es me off because they tax the ECO fee. On some things I buy the total taxes and fees add up to over 25% and this is on money that was already taxed when I earned it. It wouldn't hurt AS much if the money was used wisely!!!!