You Missed the Tax Deadline... Dec 1rst....
January 22, 2012You know I am amazed at how many people in business miss the deadline for getting their taxes DONE. I have asked, god knows how many people, and so far have not met one that was aware that the real deadline to get your taxes DONE is December first!!! Everyone I meet says it is not until April or May sometime. What they are missing is the fact April or so is the deadline for when you have to FILE your taxes… not get them DONE.
You see by having them done in December you are able to assess how much you are going to owe in taxes a few months later. Thus if it is a lot then still have time to rack up some legitimate write offs. A few years ago I did mine and quickly realized that I was going to have to pay a huge chunk in taxes. Too many art sales and not enough right offs.
So because it was only December I still had time to rack up some tax deductible assets. Thus I dashed out and bought a new computer, camera and all sorts of other junk I could use as legitimate write-offs for my business. At the time computers were only a fifty percent write off the first year but still. Since I did buy it, that meant I had half that purchase price to deduct off what I was going to have to pay in taxes just a few months later. That is like getting that "already on sale" computer for fifty percent off the sale price!!! How good is that?!!! If I followed the herd and not done my taxes until April or whenever it would have been too late to change anything then. Thus I would have been stuck with paying an lot more in taxes.
Bla… bla… bla...
Now if you think about it a bit this is why I love income taxes so much. They force everyone who wants to live in this country under the present regime to stimulate the economy. If they don't want to do it themselves by starting up a business and buying junk to build that business then they have to pay more in taxes. Any free loaders out there who think they can just get a high paying job and then just selfishly pile up all their money in a vault somewhere are out of luck. You either play the game or pay for the game.
A lot of times this causes intense discomfort in those who work normal jobs. First off is they hate to see all that money being taken from them. This is unfortunate since that’s what builds the economy… which is why they have the job they have. Just the same they hate the thought of having to part with all that beer money for nothing. After all the government takes that money piles it up and then gives big chunks of it to people to study house flies having sex. The reason the government does this is they know that the people doing the study will take this easy come money and blow it on other stuff. This spending of course creates more jobs and prosperity for everyone. It filters down the chain stimulating the economy every time it changes hands. After all every time money is spent it does not dissolve into thin air. It just changes hands.
You see the guy who got money for the fly study is rich over night. Thus being a new found big shot he rushes over to me and orders a custom sculpture. I build him the sculpture and he gives me the money. Now our "economy" has a fifty thousand dollar sculpture and the money is still floating around. Of course since I am all of a sudden Mr. Big Shot myself I head right out to McDonalds every night for dinner. That means the owner of McDonalds has more business and thus hires some poor ex-realtor who can now feed his family… which means places like safewaste can hire more staff. Thus each time money changes hands we all win.
Now if they had given it to my friends penny pinching Scottish grandfather that would have been a real disaster. He would have stuffed it under his pillow and sparingly doled it out only when needed and often penny at a time. Not much economic stimulus there.
If you don't know this fact about money then it is likely you find government spending to be a totally frustrating subject. By them throwing the money at the top and letting it work it's way down… and believe me it always does, it benefits everyone more than if they just piled it up at the bottom. It is a common known fact by bankers everywhere that almost everyone alive spends slightly more than they make no matter how much that is. There is an old saying "buy a man some beer and he can get drunk for a day…. Teach him how to get a job and he can get drunk for the rest of his life" Thus giving someone a handout is fine but unless you can get them a job their life is not going to get much better. With the coming highly competitive world markets now having jobs is going to get... I mean already... is real vital.
The one problem with the government is they know that the ever increasing majority are on the lower end of the money chain. Thus to get voted in the need to appease them which is often by handing out more government benefits to the poor. Sure enough it gets them re-elected but does not help the poor much. After all like I said unless they can get a chance at a job their life is not going to get better. Plus with less and less money floating through the upper and middle part of the chain it only means less chance of more jobs.
You see people on the bottom of the money chain often can only afford to spend that money on simple basics. Those like food, booze, rent etc. Often those services are provided by the rich and thus the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Unless you don't have a tv and live in a cave you can see that the middle class in North America is shrinking rapidly or maybe I should say almost gone. That's what vote buying does. It kills the job creating middle class, makes the rich richer and creates more poor and unemployed. Before long it is snowball out of control rolling into hell. Wait… that sounds like the economy now.
Now I have met a lot of people who have nine to fivers and think it is unfair that business people get to write off stuff. Short sighted thinking on their part as anyone who has a business knows. Self employment is often more like self abuse. You usually work way longer hours at far less pay for years until you, if you are extremely lucky, hit the big time. The odds of a small business surviving past the first year is just short of a miracle. About eighty percent fail the first year. Another eighty percent of those that survive the first year die within the next two years. It's a tough gig. In fact I read somewhere that almost all of the Fortune Five hundred companies from a just a few years ago are now long gondi!!! No it is not an easy path. But thanks to the American dream and the hope of treasure at the end of the tunnel there are those willing to chase it. Those that do and make it create jobs for all of those that don't walk that path and would just rather work as an employee. Nothing against them at all as they are as important as any. They are also the people the government likes since they pay taxes and rightfully should! After all they are not taking the risk the business owner is. It is the ultimate in fairness.
Posted by Roy Mackey.
