Posted on 09/08/2013 5:23:42 AM PDT by Kaslin
Geez, you’d think we lived in the United States, or something.
The mafia calls this protection money.
I call it “predatory government”. They liked using the term “predatory lenders” for the people who sold home mortgages but the predatory government is far worse. Look what they’ve done now for student college loans - they nationalized them then jacked up the interest rate, all in the name of “fixing” something when they were the largest part of the problem.
How is this different than paying money to the Mafia for “protection”?
Government is oppressive when it demands a part of your income so it can give it to cronies and use it to buy votes from the Taker class.
In Tennessee we have a Farmer’s market exemption. No sales tax for retail sales at a Farmer’s Market. I don’t know the definition of such a stand but if the boy was selling his own product, he would be exempt.
It appears someone ratted him out and the scale of his business was too large. To be noticed on the second day means someone was after him and sicced the tax guys on him
At least the Mafia make no pretense about being crooked.
What's the difference between a bureaucrat and a gangster?
Bureaucrats kill businesses, not their owners.
I just had to laugh.
If enterprises such as this are exempt from taxes then adults could easily setup their children as a front for their own businesses.
Oh, my! A FReeper justifying the tax burden on U.S. citizens.
How is a fruit stand an ‘enterprise?’ Is there an official tax-purpose definition of ‘enterprise’ about which I’m unaware? Enterprises are usually large undertakings that require a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. A child would not be at the head of a true enterprise, and an adult or a group of adults would not get away with putting a child at the head of a true enterprise.
All of that aside, are you aware of the American pedigree when it comes to business? It used to be that a farmer could take his entire harvest to the nearest street corner to sell his crops at whatever price he wished and with no more than a nod and a smile from any government employee.
Nowadays, that farmer would be subject to regulations, liens, appropriations, taxes, levies, you name it, if he started a fruit stand without consulting the local government, at the least, first. That’s NOT how America was founded or worked as little as 50 years ago.
Our government, from the Federal level down to your local city council, is completely out of control. Every last one of them is drunk with power and does what they please to feed the beast. That’s not America.
We really, truly need to take America back.
I guess Idaho has a sales tax on food. Most places I have lived do not tax food unless it is sold for consumption on the premises.
We could think of the Mafia as "undocumented politicians".
The is a sliver of a silver lining. The government probably created another government thug hating person in that Weeks kid and his family. Someone who doesn’t trust, believe in, and hates these bureaucrats, hopefully with a blinding fury.
In todays world, that’s a good thing for our society.
We could think of the Mafia as “undocumented politicians”.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = =
At least the Mafia was up front and didn’t use your ‘tax’ money to hire new goons to harass you etc.
The ‘theory’ was pretty well explained when ‘Tony’ went into the Sporting Goods Business.
He became a ‘partner’ because the owner owed for GAMBLING debts, Tony was very clear that the guy put himself into the position, and everything was fine as long as you paid the ‘vig’ on time.
The longer you don’t pay, the more they bleed from the business till they have to shutter it and the ‘owner’ is left holding the bag while his ‘new partners’ move on to greener pastures.
Even at the ‘end’ when the dudes kid graduated from high school the guy appeared to be seeking sympathy from Tony because he not only lost his business, his home, his family because he blew the ‘college account’, Tony just smiled, shook his hand etc...and all but told him
“Sympathy is in the Dictionary between ‘$hiite and Syphilis”
Tony also had that ‘fatherly’ approach when he explained to his daughter (and wife on occasion) where all the ‘opulence’ came from and the gifts were part of it, the car being a business deal.
Of course Tony neglected to tell Meadow that the alternate to the SUV was a cap in the knee or worse, but ‘we’ must shield our children from certain negatives....
Bump
Bureaucrats kill businesses, not their owners.
That, and the Mafia may eventually be held to account for their crimes. Governments and their officials almost never are.
"It is terrible to contemplate how few politicians are hanged" - GK Chesterton.
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