Posted on 06/01/2002 11:30:55 AM PDT by SheLion
ahhh, but florida DOES compensate you for collecting sales taxes - the grand whopping sum of 2.5% of the amount of the net tax due
but, they wouldn't want those greedy businesses getting rich collecting the gubmint's pound of flesh, so it's limited to 30 bucks per return, which could be 1, 2, 4 or 12 per year, just think, as much as $360 per year for frequent filers!
of course, if you're even one day late filing a return, ooops, sorry, no collection allowance for you, an extra-specially nice back-door penalty on top of the minimum 10% late-filing penalty
i'm not a cpa, and i don't play one on tv, but i do keep the books for someone who has sold about 300k of stuff on ebay and yahoo
very little is delivered (and thus taxable) in florida, but, once a day i spend about 60 seconds plugging her revenue and expenses into my spreadsheet, and, the day after each quarter ends, the florida sales tax return entries can be transferred to paper and dumped in the mail
but, alas, because the tax she pays on her purchases for resale from outfits which won't do non-taxable sales (by law, they don't have to if they don't want to, whether due to laziness, cashier stupidity, or whatever) reduce the net tax due, she winds up with little or no collection allowance
every time i calculate 2.5% of nothing, i think again of how considerate florida was, in their infinite wisdom, to base their gigantic tax collection allowance on net tax due, instead of tax collected
i gleefully rub my hands as i assume about 24 hours of effort (one minute per day) over the last 4 years to obtain collection allowances totalling $8.83, and calculate that the compensation was the princely sum of about 37 cents per hour
no, wait, that doesn't count the endless pleasurable hours explaining to morons that the "internet tax moratorium" doesn't mean that they don't have to pay the tax, or make any allowance for all of the considerate people who "forget" to pay it, leaving her to eat the minor amount because it's not worth the trouble
why, taking all of those extra benefits into account, nobody can say florida doesn't pay us a veritable king's ransom to do their dirty work for them
surely the exalted and grossly over-compensated position of "private tax collector for the welfare state" must be in heavy demand, and we should just shut up and stop whining lest they take our sinecures away
I was never actually called by a tax collector, I was a little taken aback. It's funny, most book keepers and accountants really hate the tax system we have even though it's their livelihood. Keep on preaching.
We don't want to ban it,...yet.
But it's for the 'chirun' so go ahead and vote to tax your bathroom usage too.
In a prepared statement, Starbucks said the company did not understand why the group "would recommend an additional consumer tax on espresso beverages, or any other single consumer product, to fund this initiative."
I'll bet they didin't say a word when the state upped the cigarette tax. Now their ox is getting gored.
Yes, they are. Businesses like espresso bars serve their customers by giving them espresso in exchange for money. I have no idea what that has to do with The Early Learning and Care Committee.
...and people get protected by government
Government should protect the people in this case by refusing to impose a tax to redistribute taxpayer dollars to a small minority of advocates.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/88055_lattetax21.shtml
Judge's ruling means latte-tax vote delayedSaturday, September 21, 2002
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF
The espresso-tax initiative apparently won't make it onto the ballot until next year, after a judge yesterday ruled against the group sponsoring it.
King County Superior Court Judge Jim Doerty ruled that the Seattle City Council had met its obligation to consider the initiative and could not be forced to act before the 45-day deadline for considering it was up.
The initiative, filed by the Early Learning and Care Campaign, proposes a dime tax on espresso drinks to raise money for child care and preschool programs. Thirty-thousand people signed a petition to get the measure on a ballot.
The campaign sued the city for failing to act on it by yesterday's deadline to put it on the November ballot. The 45-day deadline for the council's consideration, however, is not until Thursday.
Several council members said that although the council is in agreement on the importance of early childhood education, members can't agree on how to raise the money.
By law, the council has 45 days in which to adopt the initiative as law, place it on the ballot with an alternative or let it go to the ballot alone at the next regularly scheduled election.
© 1998-2002 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
But this particular tax is so blatantly and shamelessly confiscatory it's almost refreshing. No one pretends that espresso has a thing to do with child care, this is simply "you have money, we want it, we're going to take some of it from you, and we're going to use the state to enforce it." And, this being Seattle, everyone accepts that as the natural course of behavior.
Well, almost everyone. Me, I'll be buying mine when I leave for work - and that's outside the city limits. The kiddies' moms can find another cow to milk. The really sad thing is that it's folks like AABEST and cmsgop who suffer for this. Sorry, guys, I really am.
Good for you.
The more I read about these tax initiatives, I start to recognize this from some of my reading of history. We've actually done this kind of thing before, in medieval Europe. It didn't work very well then, either.
There were people in medieval times who would go to a king and ask for money for a worthy project. Sometimes, if the king said yes, but was low on cash, he would give them the right to tax something in order to raise the money. After enough people came for money, the kingdom would be in financial trouble because the taxing ability was given away to others.
I agree with you one hundred and 10 percent! I believe that people who have no children in school should be tax exempt from this. They are digging deep into our pockets to pay for something that we have no (more) interest in.
Go figure. Thirty-thousand people signed a petition???? LOL! I think people need to open their shades and see the light.
Shop Cheap! It's your civic duty! AND the American Way! We can always find what we want cheaper somewhere else, and they will just have to find other ways to collect that tax!
BOSTON TEA PARTY all over again!!! Exactly!!!
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