SmallBusinessNewz

It's expensive, making the Feds happy

The expense alone of complying with tax regulations and the paperwork required may cost more than $1,300 per employee per year.

That's right, with the money the federal government costs you for having employees, you're looking at extra expenses to keep Uncle Sam in the loop. It's bad enough your tax dollars regularly go to questionable projects and earmarks, but costing you extra for that privilege smacks of unnecessary cruelty.

The Entrepreneurial Mind blog from Belmont University highlighted a comment made about this before the Senate Finance Committee. It came appropriately enough during a hearing held on tax return day, April 15th.

That discussion of tax reform, a topic none of our current two-party Presidential candidates will touch, featured remarks by the Tax Foundation's Vice President for Economic Policy Robert J. Carroll about the choice between income and consumption based taxes. Belmont commented on the extra expense involved with dotting the I's and crossin the T's for the IRS:

Tax compliance (not taxes, just the paper work they create) costs small businesses more than $1,300 per employee per year. That is $26,000 for a small business with twenty employees that could have gone to adding another employee or expansion.

But, there is no relief in sight for those of us in the US. None of the three remaining Presidential candidates have real tax reform or tax cuts in their platforms. All three include policies that will significantly expand government, and in turn, will create the need for higher taxes to support their new initiatives.

Forget about bitter Pennsylvanians and imaginary Bosnian snipers. The real question small business owners should be asking of their Congressional representatives is about tax reform; we already know big media won't ask the candidates about this, based on ABC's despicable debate this past week.

The White House gives small businesses credit for creating jobs. These jobs lead to more tax the government collects. Fixing a busted system that taxes Warren Buffett's secretary at a greater percentage than the billionaire investor can only help small businesses create more jobs, which may give the country a chance at overcoming current inflation and recession woes.