taxes schmaxes update

i preface this post with an apology for my rant, but i have never put it down in words and the time has so come.

taxes. i hate them more than patterns. thank the lord that we have an amazing accountant who is fluent in "the man" language. last year we had a pretty hard blow at tax time and this whole year i had been saving as much as possible to make that history not repeat itself. not sure if it was anything i did, but for some reason the first time in 6 years we actually overpaid!!

i can not contain my excitement slash disbelief over this. i feel as though a huge elephant slash hippo (whichever is heavier) has been lifted from my pocketbook. we owned a house slash condo for 3 years and saw no money back from this at tax time...which sucked! anyway - enough slashes but i am excited to say the least.

part of what irks me is that i feel as though - actually screw feelings, i know california makes it extremely hard to run a legit small business. we gave our business to the Lord six and a half years ago and decided to run it completely by the book and it has been a tough battle. our business thankfully has grown every year but the hardships with running our own business has also grown. we are not able to have our pool technicians be employees because workman's comp is so ridiculously irrationally expensive. we have been threatened with law suits at least 2 or 3 times a year and have been able to successfully avoid any so far. we have had to change our business structure - first a general partnership, then an LLC, then an S-Corp to avoid the heavy taxation that businesses face. not to mention the ridiculous amounts of money we are forced to spend every year on liability and workman's comp for bryan and i and taxes and permits and licenses.

our state is forcing so many small businesses to move to nevada (which has amazing benefits and protection for small businesses and if nevada wasnt such a sucky place to live i would consider it myself) and colorado and neighboring states. why can't our state get it together? i totally voted for the terminator thinking he would bring some legitimate change for small businesses, but perhaps that kennedy wife of his had some influence or who knows what happens in the messed up world of politics, but needless to say i am still waiting arnold!

anyway - please dont think i am bitching about having a successful business - that is not the case. i am so thankful that my husband has the mindset of business that he does and that we are both able to raise our child and spend this time together, i just wish that our political environment and business environment made it a more comfortable one so that others can pursue their dreams. we were only able to do it because we started this when we were first married with no jobs to speak of. if we wanted to do something like this now, it would be too big a bear.

that is not to discourage anyone else. please by all means do it. and maybe together we can change policy. we might not be able to change the litigation hell that plagues so many businesses, but maybe we can make a dent in the policy of small business protection!

by the way, in case you are considering it...starting a business is not difficult. you first obtain a business license through your county, then register a DBA (doing business as) and perhaps even a bank account and then write off as much as you possibly can!!!