[StBernard] Major Shift In Tax Burdens Possible Under Obama

[Westley Annis]

Penny,

One of the things to watch for is how a regions makes it money. The media is
predominantly based in New York City, D.C., Chicago, and Los Angeles. Their
view of the nation is shaped by the area they live and work in.

Louisiana, especially in the 80's, was an oil state. And in the early 80's
the oil industry nearly went belly up. So, yes, it would have been very hard
to see any "trickle down" economics in Louisiana in that time period.

The thing of it is, and something Obama better learn real quick, BUSINESSES
DON'T PAY TAXES. Yeah, it may look like they do on paper, but taxes are a
cost of business that is passed on to you, the consumer. The only difference
is whether or not you can easily see it.

Think about these two taxes, income taxes and sales taxes. A sales tax is,
for the most part, easy to see. It is reported as a separate line item on
your receipt. When you check out at WalMart you can see how much in taxes
they are collecting from you to pass on to the government. (One of the
gotcha's with sales tax is that it is very hard to see how much sales tax or
any other tax you're paying when you buy a gallon of gas. If the industry
ever upgraded their pumps to show you the cost of a gallon of gas and the
tax you were paying as separate dials, I'm sure you would see a lot of
complaints in Baton Rouge.)

Income taxes are different. You can't see them because they are built into
the cost of an item. A typical DVD is $20 at WalMart. The wholesale cost to
WalMart is around $8-10, but don't think they are making a $10 profit on
that DVD. Out of that $10 mark-up they need to pay salaries, insurance,
rent, light bill, cover losses from shrinkage (theft), and pay taxes. Now,
how much of that $10 do you think they have left over? Of the six categories
I just mentioned, there is only one they can directly control, and that is
salaries.

If WalMart set a goal of making $1 from the sale of every DVD and they are
only making fifty cents, they have two options, raise the price or cut
salaries. $20 seems to be a threshold for DVD's, so they can't raise the
price cause no one will buy the DVD's at the higher price. Only option left
is to start trimming the cost of salaries and that means people working less
hours or not working at all.

Remember, salaries are also controlled by the government through the minimum
wage act. My daughter just turned 16 over the summer and started working.
When she first started she was hired at $6.00 hour, fifteen cents over the
minimum wage. A month later, minimum wage went up to $6.55. She's now paid
$6.55, but I told her she should be paid $6.70. If she was worth fifteen
cents over minimum wage when hired, why is she not worth that now? She's
tickled pink she got a raise and doesn't fully understand the point I was
trying to make to her.

Back in my youth I worked for Popeyes. Started out at minimum wage. During
orientation I found out all I had to do was take a simple multiple-choice
test that showed I knew what I was doing and I could get a ten cent raise.
There were five tests in total and I took all five within three months and
was making fifty cents more than half the store. There were people there who
had been working there for two years and never bothered to take one test.
When I asked why, they replied, "I won't be here for that long." They could
not understand they were leaving money on the table.

Although I think every employer should give loyal employees some type of
raise every year, I also think employees have to take it upon themselves to
ask for a raise. And be prepared to walk out if you don't get it.

People need to stop relying on government to take care of every little need
throughout their life. It leads to nothing more than a cycle of dependency
and a bankrupt nation, both morally and fiscally.

Westley



-----Original Message-----

Thank you Laurie, for responding and reminding me of the whole process.  I
still don't understand why small businesses should be lumped in with the
gazillion dollar multinational corporations.  I know how hard it is for
small businesses to survive not to mention grow and get ahead.  I remember
President Reagan's trickle-down economic practices back in the 80's.
Somehow citizens and small businesses were supposed to benefit by the huge
tax breaks and protections given to mega corporations.  I never remember
either myself or our region in general being "trickled" on.  I remember
times being pretty tough for Da Parish during those years of trickle down
economics.  Those are the years that I, as well as many others, had to leave
the area to find work elsewhere.  I guess I just don't see small businesses
in the same catagory as those mega corporations.
Penny