Ive noticed 5 small businesses go down here because of taxes

[Ksec]

Specifically state taxes, two restaurants a fresh poultry business, a drive thru and a nightclub. Thats staggering considering we have only 5 thousand people in this town. Is Ohio going after small businesses more or are these guys just deadbeats? I talked to the guy who owned the drive thru, he said it was cigarrette taxes that did him in. He said he put them off and before he knew it they were so big he couldnt pay them in a lump sum payment so they closed him down, confiscated his business and sold it at auction, which hasnt taken place yet.


Has anyone else noticed a spike in foreclosures or business failures in your area?

[Alex146]

1. How would they be doing without...

all the services that are paid for by taxes?

[Ksec]

2. I agree. Im not condoning what they did anyway. nt

[sharkbait2]

12. What services?

Seriously, what kind of bang for the buck do we receive in this country for all the taxes we pay? Don't say roads, electricity, fire and police... because those are paid for at a small fraction of what we dish out yearly to the federal, state, county and city governments.... not counting sales taxes, gasoline taxes, cigarette taxes, car taxes to infiniti and beyond...

Throw in some real healthcare and education benefits and perhaps we would be up to par with other countries. Our government is bar none, the wealthiest in the world. There is no excuse for the lack of services compared to what we pay in.

[Merlin]

13. Your comments are just so incredibly clueless it's unbelievable.

"...because those are paid for at a small fraction of what we dish out yearly to the federal, state, county and city governments..."

Drive around, will you. Take a look at what's around you. Do you have any concept of what you're saying?

Under the roads are, what, pipes. Water pipes. Sewer pipes. Pipes carrying utility lines. A lot of the maintenance of those is publicly funded. The management of their locations is publicly funded. If you want to know whether you can dig in your front yard without hitting a utility line, somebody in government knows exactly where they run.

If you want your trash picked up, somebody in government knows who's authorized to do it, and what the terms are. Or maybe the government does it themselves. The security people at the airports are publicly funded. So are the controllers. So are many, many other features of all public transportation systems.

The incredible school systems we have are publicly funded. Want to shut them down? Maybe just starve them? Maybe we can cut back on teachers salaries. That might save poor little you a few bucks a year, and discourage others from teaching. You'd be real happy, I'm sure.

I won't even mention the fact that most of your federal dollars go to paying interest on the federal debt, and on the military.

Get a grip.

[tameszu]

3. The problem is that Bush's bad economy and tax cuts

for rich individuals mean that state and local governments have to raise regressive property taxes, as state taxes and their transfer payments are calculated as a %tage of federal taxes.

[Hamlette]

4. can't blame the taxes!

the drive thru owner you speak of was committing fraud. He collected those taxes from his customers and failed to pay them.

I have less sympathy for not paying cigarette taxes than I do for not paying withholding.

Sheesh, your subject heading is off the mark.

[Ksec]

5. why is that may I ask

[bearfartinthewoods]

6. because they went down because they bbroke the law

not because of taxes.

[Loco_moco]

7. I have noticed a marked increase in aggressive..

..tax prosecutions in my state as well. I wouldn't have noticed it except that I read the police and court report daily and all of a sudden tax prosecutions are piling up. Personal as well as business are being prosecuted. I agree that these folks are negligent in their responsibility and should face up to the penalties. But yes, I have noticed an increase in proscecutions and I'm sure it's in part because of the unfunded mandates that this misAdministration hands down to the states, putting pressure on the taxman.

peace;
rob

[salin]

8. The issue is all about "Tax Shift"

For more than twenty years the talk has not about been keeping tax levels even and holding them down from growth (eg pay for inflation).. they have been about cutting taxes. While it goes against the popular image - many programs - after 5-10 rounds of "cuts" have cut the fat out of the program. Meanwhile there have not only been pushes for regular tax cuts - or keeping levels frozen while costs, such as paying health insurance, rise (federal income tax, state income tax, property tax, etc.) There is little left to cut.

So the same politicians that pander to the "tax cut" theory (that you have to promise to keep cutting taxes to get elected) realize that services are cut back as far as they can be before being cut back so far that they can't get re-elected. This means - raise visible taxes - don't get reelected vs. cut essentiall services - don't get reelected. The only choice is to raise less seen taxes... or "popular" taxes (eg vice taxes which would include cigarettes and liquor.)

Sounds like these small businesses are the ones hit hardest by the 'quiet' taxes that have to be raised to make up for visible tax cuts for the general public. Of course small businesses have the smallest economy of scale (buying power, and the level of income that makes offsets for overhead a smaller percentage of the revenue stream) - and the hardest hit. One more way of giving advantage to larger entities (mid size businesses and even more so to large corporations.)

In the end it is the real effect of pushing the tax cut frenzy far past the level of where services can be cut (before there is a backlash from the same voters who want the tax cuts.) The past twenty years + have created a society that wants a free lunch from the government - and doesn't seem to care when someone else has to pay for it - and when that payment hurts friends and family (ie employees of that "someone else who has to pay for it.")

[Mountainman]

9. The taxes he collected on cigarettes was not his money.

He was to collect it and send it onto the State. What he was doing was stealing or at least operating on money that wasn't his. If he didn't sell the cigarettes he would not have had to collect the taxes and I doubt the money he made on the smokes, not counting the taxes, was not enough to keep him afloat. So it wasn't taxes but bad management that made him lose his business.

[snippy]

11. This is a very common problem with small businesses, and some

not so small. Rather than remit the tax to the state or the federal government right away, the business owner will use the cash for other purposes intending to make the payment later. The payment usually gets made but if business is bad the cash flow is insufficient and the problem snowballs with the business owing more and more. This usually happens with sales taxes and payroll taxes.

[cliss]

10. That's probably true, but the point is still good.

I'm not sure of any recent statistics, but I'm willing to bet money on the fact that businesses are being choked off by excessive taxes and regulation.

"Big Brother" is forgetting the fact that small businesses are responsible for employing ________% (how many) percent of total employment? I think I've read somewhere around 78%.

A word to the "parasites": kill your host, and you're done for.

[Merlin]

14. "Because of taxes..." You've done the audit, have you?

This is a lame excuse given by people who can't compete.

"...cigarette taxes did him in."

You buy that, do you? Oh, please!!!