Posted on 09/08/2013 5:23:42 AM PDT by Kaslin
“So, what did you do during your summer break?” If you happen to be a certain 12 year old boy from Pocatello, Idaho, you spent the summer being productive and successfully carrying on an entrepreneurial venture, and then experiencing your state government cracking-down on you for not being licensed and demanding a portion of your revenues.
The 12 year old son of Jason Weeks is who we’re talking about. Weeks’ son announced at the beginning of the summer that he wanted to acquire a motorcycle. Weeks had the good sense to tell his son to earn money and purchase one for himself. So the son took the father’s advice, and – presumably with some help from some adults – he launched a fruit stand, right near a Red Wings Shoe store in small town Pocatello.
But soon after Weeks’ son launched, the Idaho State Tax Commission lunged. “They confronted him first and he called me” Weeks told the Idaho State Journal newspaper. “It was the second day that my son was in business.”
According to Weeks and the local newspaper, the state is demanding payment for a 6% state sales tax that they claim should have been collected by the boy from cash paying customers that bought his raspberries. Weeks would not return my calls prior to the writing of this piece, but, without commenting specifically about the incident, the state tax commission acknowledges that it happened and notes that they have to enforce the law with everybody.
Americans everywhere should make note of this situation and learn from it. Lesson number one is that nobody should attempt to launch any sort of business in the United States without making certain that they are in full compliance with city, county, state and federal regulations. That’s a tall order, but that’s how costly it has become to do business in America.
Governments nationwide and at all levels are almost universally on the hunt for money, and many of them are broke. There is no limit to governments’ willingness to turn people upside down and shake cash out of their pockets, and they’ll even do it with children. (The Idaho state tax commission had a similar run-in with a 6 year old back in 2010!). If a business is being operated without the proper licensure and permitting requirements being met, and without proper taxation procedures in place, an operator no matter their age will likely be fined for being out of compliance, and fined retroactively for however long the non-compliance has been happening. Business owners, beware.
The other great lesson in this situation is to realize that we live in an era of abusive government. Agents of city, county, state and federal government often don’t know any limits to how they can and will exercise their powers over the lives of private individuals, and the cause of the problem is we, the people. With often less than 50% of the American population participating in U.S. presidential elections, voter turn-out for state and local elections is usually even smaller. Such ambivalence is emboldening to bureaucrats and politicians who have power and enjoy using it.
Abusive government won’t stop until Americans wake up and choose otherwise. Hopefully the young Mr. Weeks from Pocatello – and others in his generation – will someday choose more wisely than today’s adult population.
“Here’s the problem with this story. If enterprises such as this are exempt from taxes then adults could easily setup their children as a front for their own businesses. The solution is if you don’t like the tax regulations being enforced then vote in politicians who will reduce or eliminate the taxes.”
Well, sure...but that’s only an aside to what I get from the story...which is that while a business may be simple enough to carry out that an ambitious twelve year old can do it, the effort, cost and expertise to comply with the government regulations are strenuous, and can be more than for the business itself...even for a piddling summer project...and thus render the effort to create a business unviable.
so big deal
the kid should have paid 6% sales tax and learned about the real world of business where taxes are part of your costs
or formed a nonprofit to shelter his wealth like the really really rich people do
OMG...! Big Brother doesn't get his vig and it would be legal? OMG the horror...
You’re absolutely right, I was born during WWII and we used to grow watermelons and cantaloupes which we sold by the pickup load to truckers who resold them to grocery stores but we sometimes sold some to people who ran roadside stands and they resold them. On rare occasions we would simply park the truck by the side of the road under a shade tree and offer melons to whoever wanted to stop. There was no need to keep records, no one asked us to buy a permit or business license and we did not pay sales tax to the state. The main reason we did not sell the whole crop by the road is that there was not enough traffic, it was much better to go on to the farmer’s market and sell by the truckload.
Did you just not say that under the current rules people would set up their kids in business?
See, that is the point they WOULD be playing by the rules.
You do understand that right?
Idaho must be one of the few states which puts sales tax on FOOD.
Here’s another thought:
I have picked raspberries.
It takes quite a bit of time EVERY morning to pick what is shown in that photo.
The kid has to have a pretty big patch of bushes & is sure showing alot of initiative.
Kudos to him.
Even Kalifornia doesn’t tax basic food...but if you buy a cooked chiggin, they’ll get you.
/johnny
Yes Idaho taxes food...and then we get a $100 (or some arbitrary low number) grocery tax credit when we file. Some simple math shows that $100 doesn’t near cover the sales taxes we pay on food. For broke people like me that is where most of my sales taxes goes.
So yay “conservative” Idaho taxes you for something you HAVE TO HAVE TO LIVE.
/johnny
Lots of people ignore lots of rules and the government never says boo!.
/johnny
What is happening, is that America is being sold.
I say America is being sold, not things American.
What we need is NOW to equalize our tariffs with the globe.
All imports must be charged import duties, and all inported goods must pay for the right to be sold in America.
Now.
Not sometime in some future.
Right now.
The kid should move to MT. No sales tax.
The good citizens of ID have their work cut out for themselves.
I’m glad I am old enough to remember when this was still a free country. Sorry to see it go.
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