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Thread: When Taxes Threaten Your Livelihood

  1. #1

    When Taxes Threaten Your Livelihood

    Bob Dick
    Thursday, August 04, 2016



    Chris Hughes has owned Fat Cat Vapor Shop for almost three years. The shop – tucked away in a small Lycoming County borough in Pennsylvania – specializes in electronic cigarettes (e-cigs), which many people seek as a healthier alternative to traditional smoking.

    His capacity to help others is now in jeopardy.Chris understood the needs of people looking for an alternative to cigarettes. Instead of waiting for someone else to meet those needs, Chris took a risk and opened his own vape shop in December of 2013. “I didn’t go into business for myself," Chris said. "I went into business to help people.”

    His capacity to help others is now in jeopardy.

    Paying the State's Deficit

    Earlier this month, the state legislature passed a 40 percent excise tax on Chris’s vape shop and others like it. Worse, the tax is retroactive. Not only is the 40 percent tax imposed on products Chris buys, but he must also pay the tax on existing inventory.

    According to Chris’s estimates, the new law would require him to make a tax payment of up to $40,000. “I just can’t afford that. This tax is forcing me to close my business.” Lawmakers included the new tax on e-cigs as part of a $650 million tax increase package to balance the state’s budget.

    "I'm going to continue to fight, but I can't help but feel let down by my government."The new e-cigs tax raises $13 million, which accounts for just 2 percent of the overall tax package. But to Chris, the tax is an enormous burden on his business – one he won’t be able to recover from. Chris isn’t the only one upset at the prospect of closing. “I’ve had customers come in crying because of the news that I’m shutting my doors. This is wrong. This is just unfair.”

    Chris attempted to work with the legislature to pass a less punitive tax, but to no avail. His pleas to avoid a life-altering tax fell on deaf ears. Chris plans to close his shop in September if lawmakers don’t repeal the tax. “I’m going to continue to fight, but I can’t help but feel let down by my government.”

    Fortunately, there’s still time to make things right. Lawmakers should come back to Harrisburg and repeal the excise tax. Any revenue lost could be offset by cutting spending from the $800 million of corporate welfare in the state budget.

    Reducing special subsidies to save the livelihood of small business owners like Chris is a practical and moral solution to an unacceptable problem. It’s also a cause worthy of lawmakers’ attention—and one they must pursue before time runs out.

    ...

    https://fee.org/articles/when-taxes-...ur-livelihood/
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  3. #2
    Lots of vape shops are feeling the bite..

    Another straw......

  4. #3
    Chester Copperpot
    Member

    of course ex-post facto laws like this are unconstitutional.... Its unbelievable but I believe it for sure. $#@! like this happens to people everyday. I know from firsthand experience

  5. #4
    "I can't help but feel let down by my government."
    LOL

  6. #5
    The shop – tucked away in a small Lycoming County borough in Pennsylvania


    Well there was his first mistake. I've never met more people than those from Penn that didn't love them some sin taxes., well Kansas and Iowa, or Ill. , well eff it , they all suck. think I need some white heat and just forget about it.

    White heat cover w/ variation, original by The Velvet Underground


  7. #6
    He just needs to vote harder.

    Or dedicate his life to politics to change this law. Then in a few years he can open his vape shop again.
    It's all about taking action and not being lazy. So you do the work, whether it's fitness or whatever. It's about getting up, motivating yourself and just doing it.
    - Kim Kardashian

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    My pronouns are he/him/his

  8. #7
    Be creative......
    "Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it."
    James Madison

    "It does not take a majority to prevail ... but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men." - Samuel Adams



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  9. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by libertyjam View Post
    The shop – tucked away in a small Lycoming County borough in Pennsylvania


    Well there was his first mistake. I've never met more people than those from Penn that didn't love them some sin taxes., well Kansas and Iowa, or Ill. , well eff it , they all suck. think I need some white heat and just forget about it.

    White heat cover w/ variation, original by The Velvet Underground

    I like the Lou Reed version.



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  11. #9
    The only thing to do "When Taxes Threaten Your Livelihood" is to threaten the livelihood of the taxman ...

    But to Chris, the tax is an enormous burden on his business – one he won’t be able to recover from. Chris isn’t the only one upset at the prospect of closing. “I’ve had customers come in crying because of the news that I’m shutting my doors. This is wrong. This is just unfair.”
    What doesn't seem to have occurred to any of these people - Chris, his customers, or the author - is that Chris should refuse to comply, his customers (and neighbors, and fellow businessmen, and etc.) should come to his assistance and defense if the state tries to do anything about it, and the author should favorably promote and publicize the matter on their behalf.

    Instead, this is what we are offered:

    Chris attempted to work with the legislature to pass a less punitive tax, but to no avail. His pleas to avoid a life-altering tax fell on deaf ears. Chris plans to close his shop in September if lawmakers don’t repeal the tax. “I’m going to continue to fight, but I can’t help but feel let down by my government.”

    Fortunately, there’s still time to make things right. Lawmakers should come back to Harrisburg and repeal the excise tax. Any revenue lost could be offset by cutting spending from the $800 million of corporate welfare in the state budget.
    This is why we can't have nice things - and as long as good people like Chris, his customers (and neighbors, and fellow businessmen, and etc.), and this author continue to tolerate this kind of thing by confining their efforts and commentary to within the rules and bounds laid down by the state, we are never going to have nice things. (As evidence of this, I offer the Fat Cat Vapor Shop as Exhibit A.)

    Don't be like Chris. Be like Frankie Schnarrs. Or if you are not in a position to be like Frankie, then at least support the people who are, whenever and wherever you find them, and in every way you can (even if it's only by spreading the word). Only when that starts to happen enough can there be any real hope that anything might actually start to change.

    Reducing special subsidies to save the livelihood of small business owners like Chris is a practical and moral solution to an unacceptable problem. It’s also a cause worthy of lawmakers’ attention—and one they must pursue before time runs out.
    And just how is this "practical and moral solution" working out for Chris? I mean, for Pete's sake! The author just got done telling us that Chris is pretty much screwed unless "[l]awmakers [...] come back to Harrisburg" and "make things right." Hope springs eternal, I guess, forlorn as it may be ...

    But no - the only "practical and moral solution" is to never allow things to get to this point in the first place.

    And having allowed them to get there, the "practical and moral solution" is not then to beg the state to be nicer to you ...
    Last edited by Occam's Banana; 08-06-2016 at 02:25 PM.
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  12. #10
    seems its time for Chris to

    join the counter economy

    'We endorse the idea of voluntarism; self-responsibility: Family, friends, and churches to solve problems, rather than saying that some monolithic government is going to make you take care of yourself and be a better person. It's a preposterous notion: It never worked, it never will. The government can't make you a better person; it can't make you follow good habits.' - Ron Paul 1988

    Awareness is the Root of Liberation Revolution is Action upon Revelation

    'Resistance and Disobedience in Economic Activity is the Most Moral Human Action Possible' - SEK3

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    ...the familiar ritual of institutional self-absolution...
    ...for protecting them, by mock trial, from punishment...




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