Dear Congressional Republican Financial Geniuses:

[Stinky The Clown]

I have been a partner in an actual small business for nearly twenty years. In the entirety of that time, we have never felt over regulated or, for that matter, overtaxed.

Now, its true that we're not the same sort of "small business" you guys love to feature but never really identify.

We're not the local beer distributor (like Cindy McCain, for example), or the local John Deere dealer who handles scores of millions in farm equipment sales. We're three owners and one employee. Half a million in total pretax business would be a real cause for unbridled jubilation on our part. We'd have to meet a lot of expenses and pay taxes out of that, but that's the cost to enjoy what this country is (well, actually, what it used to be till you people fucked it up.)

So go peddle your claptrap elsewhere. Don't feign concern for small business when the small businesses you guys favor are as far from *small* as the definition be stretched.

You wanna get things going again? Lean on those rich fuckers. Get them to cough up. Then invest that in (initially) public infrastructure projects. Real brick and mortar stuff to replace the worn out brick and mortar stuff all over this country. Seed the economy and then watch it take off on its own.

You guys love wars. GWOT. Iraq. Afghanistan. Drugs. Poverty. The Middle Class.

How about a war on crumble?

What's crumble?

Crumbling roads, crumbling schools. Crumbling bridges. Crumbling park buildings. Crumbling train stations. Crumbling trackage. Crumbling airports. Crumbling parking garages. Crumbling sidewalks.

Fixing those is INVESTMENT, not wasteful spending.

And invest in wells.

What wells, you ask?

Well people. Seniors who are secure when their regular income is over at retirement. Children with three squares a day and a bright new school with teachers who care. Women who know that a breast lump isn't a sentence to pain, worry *and* financial ruin. You know. Well people.

Your kinds of small businesses, who are little different - and maybe worse - than the big Citizens United multinationals are sitting on TRILLIONS in cash. *That's* where the money is.

Anyway . . . . I gotta get back to work.

[IndyPragmatist]

1. I think you unintentionally made a point that I try to explain to alot of people...

Your company is "three owners and one employee". That is what all companies and businesses are..they are just individuals who have pooled resources together to make a profit. A company, business, or corporation is nothing more than individuals joining together to mutually benefit financially.

This is why we need to lower our corporate tax rate. All businesses will just pass as much of the taxes onto consumers anyways, and we need to motivate businesses to hire more. So by lowering the corporate tax rate, and raising the personal income tax rate, we will see businesses more able to hire and still get the tax receipts from the business, just in the form of personal income taxes.

Obviously, this means raising some of the higher bracket tax rates. But we need to remember that a business is nothing more than a group of individuals. Let the individuals making large amounts of money pay the taxes so that they aren't just passed down onto the middle and lower classes through higher prices.

[Stinky The Clown]

2. That doesn't apply to us.

Like an S-Corp, all income flows through the business and is personal income.

Most corporations are actually like that. You can't buy their stock because they're not traded. They are private companies who incorporate to avoid personal liability (the joy of capitalism) or to share risk and reward (socialism). The megacorps that are traded on stock exchanges have as their sole raison d'etre profit are very different in attitude and, I suggest, in philosophy.

[Name removed]

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[mmonk]

5. I've been in many different types of businesses.

But I was never Bank of America or Exxon Mobil. I was never too big to fail. I never received subsidies or bail outs. We rank somewhere around Mexico's level in tax burden. They need to pay taxes. The effective rate is low right now. $60 Billion was lost on corporate tax loopholes alone in 2010.

You're describing mom and pop businesses.

[TygrBright]

6. Many if not most actual small businesses (like, for example, MINE) don't pay corporate taxes.

We are an LLC. There are a whole range of business structures that support the small business sector that do not necessarily interface with the corporate tax system.

ACTUAL small businesses, such as the CSA I buy my chicken from, the little graphics company who helped me design my product packaging, the awning maker who helped me shade my deck, the lighting equipment dealer who supplied the hard-to-find part for a fixture needing repair, and the mechanic who fixed my car last week...

...RARELY pay "corporate taxes."

For the most part, actual small businesses-- you know, the ones that are SMALL, like Stinky's, like mine... employ a couple of people, keep their owners solvent, support their local communities, and make a modest contribution to the local and state economies. We pay our taxes on time and we can't afford megabuck tax accountants who will deduction and credit and corporate welfare us out of paying anything at all.

The corporate tax rate DOES need revision-- but not in the direction you seem to be thinking of.

BTW, thanks, Stinky. Same point I repeatedly try to make to other people who whine about the impact of actually building infrastructure and a healthy, intelligent, qualified employee base on corporate profits.

wearily,
Bright

[Stinky The Clown]

7. Yeah, that's what we are, an LLC

That was created to lower the bar to forming companies. Less cumbersome than even an S-Corp.

Of course, now it is the way to go for the big guys. Chrysler (fer krissakes) was an LLC before we shot 'em and Fiat bought the carcass.

But I digress. Posting this and having these sorts of thoughts is mostly like hitting one's thumb with a hammer. It feels so good to just stop, because you know all it does is hurt you in the heart as you dared to hope for that which shall never be.






By the way, do you know where I can buy a small, flammable, Paul Ryan doll? We have a partner's meeting coming up soon and we usually like to have some sort of ceremonial opening . . . . .

[OwnedByFerrets]

4. Gladly K and R

[zbdent]

8. "Lean on those rich fuckers." ...

Why ARE we, the taxpayers, giving oil companies taxpayer dollars???

[crickets]

9. K&R