This Gov't neve misses a chance to screw the little guy

[MSimon]

It won't cost you $500. You'll just spend another sleepless night working.

Ah. Yes. Sleep is worth nothing. i.e. your time is worthless.

The original idea of Marxism was that workers should reap ALL the benefits of their labor. Our New Socialists believe that the non-working should reap the rewards of the workers. This will be done by taxing private capital and the accumulation of capital out of existence.

[MSimon]

You buy $600+ worth of pizza every year? As a business expense? What the hell sort of consulting do you do?

Let us say you go low end on the (small) pizzas. At $10 ea (not counting delivery) that comes to 60 pizzas a year. A little over one a week. If you go for a little higher quality and larger size that is $25 per pizza. Or a little under one every two weeks.

I guess the kind of consulting he does is one that actually requires running the numbers.

[MSimon]

because if you can make time to fill out a few forms, you can use that same time to make some money.

No, actually I can't. It's called a salary. I doubt that most small business owners have the capacity to turn hours into cash at will, as well.

When I was a contractor I had the ability to turn time into money almost at will.

I understand how your lack of experience with freelance work makes your conclusions shoddy. Do you understand?

Now ask yourself - is it better for scarce talent to apply their talent to solving problems or filling out government forms? Do you want your brain surgeon spending more time with his accountant or more time fixing brains? Which adds more wealth to an economy?

Is the brain surgeon better off spending his time studying the latest in brain surgery or more time studying the tax laws? If the government makes the incentives right it may be more profitable for the surgeon to study the tax laws. Is that what you want?

[MirariNefas]

It's just like you to keep pressing after an argument has petered out and nobody is really disagreeing anymore.

When I was a contractor I had the ability to turn time into money almost at will.

I understand how your lack of experience with freelance work makes your conclusions shoddy. Do you understand?

Some independant businesses can do this. Others take as much work/sales as they can get. It varies. Notice that I said the words "I doubt", not "I am omniscient"

Somehow, I doubt that you actually have a perfect perspective either.

Do you want your brain surgeon spending more time with his accountant or more time fixing brains?

The brain surgeon does not do his own purchasing. He hires people to handle that for him. They in turn interface with the accountant. But I understand how your lack of experience with private practice makes your conclusions shoddy. Do you understand?

Let us say you go low end on the (small) pizzas. At $10 ea (not counting delivery) that comes to 60 pizzas a year. A little over one a week. If you go for a little higher quality and larger size that is $25 per pizza. Or a little under one every two weeks.

I guess the kind of consulting he does is one that actually requires running the numbers.

Hey, wow! Somebody else already did that! How nice for you to finally catch up!

And yet, I still think it's a ridiculous amount of pizza for a one person operation to call a business expense. Funny, that.

[Scupperer]

I would suggest the argument petered out because the opposition is self-admittedly ignorant and stubborn, and continued disagreement is a waste of effort and time.

Kind of like filling out more useless tax forms.

For example, hiring someone to fill out useless tax forms is as much of a waste of the brain surgeon's time and effort as if he did it himself.

Brain surgeon: $250/hour
Hiring someone to do useless paperwork that otherwise doesn't need to be done: $50/hour.
Brain Surgeon: $250 - $50 = $200/hour

It comes out of the Brain Surgeon's time. Of course, someone on a salary with no interest in the success or failure of their employer so long as they get a paycheck might overlook the old saying of time=money. Just because someone else is keeping track doesn't make anyone immune, however.

Is this additional paperwork going to make small businesses fail? Absolutely. This isn't just about tacking on a couple of hundred pages of paperwork once a year, or about paying someone to do it all for you, or even about the onerous extra day-to-day tracking of minor expenses that might add up; it's about providing the government with further authority and leverage to audit, threaten, and ultimately control anyone who is trying to be a larger part of the economy than a cog in someone's wheel.

I've seen a good number of small businesses fail because of "tax" problems. Expect more.

[MSimon]

It's just like you to keep pressing after an argument has petered out and nobody is really disagreeing anymore.

I came late to the thread.

And yet, I still think it's a ridiculous amount of pizza for a one person operation to call a business expense. Funny, that.

Lunch meetings. Overtime on critical projects.

I knew a large contracting outfit that provided very upscale catered lunches every day for their employees so that they would not go out for lunch. Why shouldn't the little guy be able to take advantage as well?

[JLawson]

For example, hiring someone to fill out useless tax forms is as much of a waste of the brain surgeon's time and effort as if he did it himself.

Just think of it as the Accountants Full Employment Act - it suddenly becomes much more understandable.

We have created a governmental priesthood of lawyers and accountants. If you do not make the proper offerings to both, you're damned by the priesthood.

[MirariNefas]

I'm not going to bother with this anymore. I will simply repeat my underlying point: hyperbole. This is all the grossest exaggeration. You'll see for yourself in a few years.

[Diogenes]

I'm not going to bother with this anymore. I will simply repeat my underlying point: hyperbole. This is all the grossest exaggeration. You'll see for yourself in a few years.

One can only hope that you are right. I fear that you are not.

[JLawson]

I'm not going to bother with this anymore. I will simply repeat my underlying point: hyperbole. This is all the grossest exaggeration. You'll see for yourself in a few years.

One can only hope that you are right. I fear that you are not.

As she said, time will tell. The law of unintended consequences, however, will not be denied.

[rifleman_maynard]

I think that everyone is missing the implications of this measure.

It puts in place most of the requirements for administering a VAT. And that is why it was in the "health" bill. Our rulers figure that it might be easier to install a VAT piecemeal than all at once.

And thus they get a flood of new tax money, at least until the economy finally goes toes up.