Tax season, and frustration. A personal story.

Note, I am tenured and don't NEED research grants. For my junior colleagues it is different. No grant no tenure. If you want grant money out of the system, fine with me. But research and education is not cheap. Then don't complain if your kids don't get to do independent study when they go to college. If destruction of the US as the permier research location in the world is what you want, destruction is what you get.

Meanwhile, my postdocs go back to China and get state-of-the-art infrastructure and shiny new building, plus motivated students. What could possibly go wrong fort he US?

In any case, maybe we should go back from focusing on me, who doesn't complain, about the OP, who complains about some taxes he has to pay on his top 20% income.

I say: If you don't like it, better yourself and get a better paying job. You too can be Trump rich, if you only try hard enough. Or so is the argument thrown from your side at the "moochers".

 

You want other people's efforts to go to those that wrote the tax code because they give you crumbs. How noble to stand against actual competition.

 

And you know that there is no competition in academia how? Let me know what funding lines for major federal grant are, then we can talk.

 

Woosh, right over your head.

 

Have a nice day!

 

Well, if that is the case, if it pleases the crown, I would like to give all of my profits to the government for providing this opportunity for me to be enslaved to them. The fact is, there is a bell curve, and at some level of taxation, business simply isn't worth it. The government knows though that people like me are go-getters, and will continue to wake up at 6 am and work 12 hour days because we are passionate about what we do, not passionate about paying ridiculously high taxes.

From my perspective, a smaller less intrusive government, with far less need to siphon off business, is a good thing for everybody. Yet in our society, we have people that will advocate cradle to grave government at a huge expense, because at the end of the day, those people advocating for that typically aren't the ones with the tax burden.

So... wait a minute. If I were to pay my employees lower, reduce benefits, so that I could earn as a small business owner what my market labor rate is working for somebody else, that would make me greedy?

How about this, let's lower the burden on small businesses so that they are incentivized to be entrepreneurial .

Well thanks. But I am getting shafted.

 

Ugh. I must be ignorant, because progressive never ending tax laws are a burden to me.

I am a single member LLC, disregarded entity. All revenue is personal income, after expenses. I don't take a Salary, I take draws off the profits. My taxable income is based on the net profits the corporation sees, and my salary (draws, because it makes it easier to understand) is based on the net remaining value post carried over operating capital.

I got it. Thanks though.

My attorney and accountant would disagree I don't pay for guidance. The tax code is the tax code. Unless, you are telling me I should cheat and start expensing more than what is legally acceptable? Personal cars, meals, etc?

At the end of the day, the tax code is what it is. I am following the rules.

 

Other corporations aren't my problem. I am showing 40% profit competing against other corporations, including big ones.

My problem is the government and their taxes to "help" me.

 

What is your effective tax rate, post deductions?

 

So, why did you make such a big deal about grants?

 

And this is where you are making a mistake that is increasing your tax liability. You should be taking the bulk of that money in as salary on your personal W-2's. When you do not, the IRS penalizes you when you file your taxes as they see it as an effort by you to evade FICA deductions.

 

I'd have to look it up in my tax return. I don't obsess over money that I COULD have had, if we lived in the tax-free heaven of Somalia. Of course, if we actually DID live in Somalia, none of us would have anything, because the war lords would have taken everything from us.

As I said before, if you want more income, then better yourself and get a job that pays better. Easy, isn't it?

 

That is how individual RESEARCH by professors is paid, not the university. Take that away, and you end up with a lot of teachers, who won't be able to have students do independent research. Guess when students learn best? Sitting in the classroom or doing their independent research project, funded by the NIH or NSF?

 

No can do. I am not a W-2 employee of the company.

 

So pull a cover over my head and ignore the value of the fruits of the labor that is being forcibly taken. Got it.

Pretty short sighted of you. We can talk in black/white context comparing excess taxes to no taxes and calling what I am advocating for is a government like Somalia if that makes you feel better. I would expect more out of somebody that supposedly holds a PhD in something.

 

...

Restaurants have a failure rate of about 60%. That means restaurants have a success rate of about 40%. All restaurants have the same Federal tax burdens. Obviously the difference between success and failure is not the tax burden.

One thing taxes are used for is trying to make sure the products we purchase and use are relatively safe. In cases where they are not, the Government provides some relief. Some examples:

• Food and cleanliness inspections
• Better packaging to prevent tampering
• Mandated recalls
• Honesty in labeling

It's not a perfect system. Making it better would increase taxes.

 

And democrats complain about business monopolies and oligopolies and a few large competitors coordinating together to raise prices. We need to end taxes on small and medium businesses.

 

It looks like you know you are doing everything right.

I guess people who run and grow successful business are just luckier than you.

 

Then you lied when you said you had a salary or your misunderstanding of tax law is why you are getting an extra soaking. Either way, you not taking all that money in as payroll income is going to keep costing you year after year after year until you wise up. It is a mistake a lot of small business owners make early on. You have to pay yourself a salary via a paycheck and that salary needs to have FICA withholding taken or the IRS happily penalizes you April 15.

 

Some of the fruits of the labor have to be taken to set conditions that allow a civilized society, with enforced property rights, national defense, and, yes, a social safety net. I realize that you need all those things that allow you to have a successful business. Yet, you HATE to pay for any of it. How convenient.

 

His story is getting foggier every time he posts. He doesn't want facts or information. He just wants to gripe about the Government.

 

There are many reasons for that but increasingly it is because consumers are so fickle that they will abandon a restaurant whose food they like just because it is no longer the trendiest place to be seen.

 

As I said, Obviously the difference between success and failure is not the tax burden.

 

Certainly since you have to be making money to be exposed to a lot of the taxes I just recall reading an article about 6 months ago about NYC losing more restaurants than it is creating because of the high cost of entry plus the much shorter life span due to the trendy trend. You basically would have to keep renaming and remenuing your restaurant every couple years to stay afloat.

 

I like how you keep trying to spend this around to make it appear that I'm either ignorant, or simply not a good business owner.

Never mind actually responding to to the complaints I have about taxes. It's easier to just attack me, or tell me to put my head down, shut up, and pay. Good little liberal.

Fact is, I started a company, with multiple employees that are well paid, and my company turns a 40% annual profit. That sir, is success. I don't need you to support weekday I already know. But I do expect you to defend the taxes you presumably support.

Talk on the internet is cheap. I would be willing tho make a large bet, that you haven't actually ever started or ran anything as successful as my firm.

So... back to the burden of taxes.