We ran our business up in Tax-achusetts.
State tax
County tax
City tax
Inventory tax
Payroll tax
Enviornmental tax
Clean air tax
Landfill tax plus special bags we had to buy and pay to take each one to the dump
Surtax on gasoline
Surtax on electric
Surtax on natural gas
Surtax on snow removal
Special education tax
Taxity tax
When selling our business they had to give me oxygen at the closing.
When they began passing all the documents around for signings, I began to see all these taxes being added to the proceeds.
By the time we were finished we only wound up with 32% of the actual sale price. The rest went to taxes.
For every $100,000 there were $68,000 in taxes.
Worked 44 years 7 days a week 18+ hours a day building a wonderful business. The taxes ended our dreams. We thought we had built a retirement package.
Instead we had to work another 15 years.
Going back the best idea I ever heard spoken at a debate way back in the 1980s.
This was the idea that came out:
"Small business owners become bored with their business. The business is successful. They would do better with a new challenge."
So here is the plan brought out by someone running for office way back then.
1. Give small business owners an incentive to sell an established business.
2. When they sell their business give them 2 years to invest the proceeds into a new business. They can hold the proceeds in an escrow account for 2 years tax free for this purpose.
3. If they invest this money in energy saving products they get another 2 tax free years on profits they make.
4. If they invest it in a non-energy saving business they will go back to normal tax rates.
The business community rallied around this idea. But unfortuneately it never happened. It got voted down by our congress.
Will we be taxed on laughing soon?
"A laugh tax" :^O
Take care,
DWB
