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I am eating a peanut butter sandwich, ingredients of which were bought with a food stamp EBT card, while sitting in the office of my restaurant, facing a stack of bills I can't pay.
And I am thinking that if I had never started this business six months ago, I would have been better off.
I never did take a draw. All the money that has been made has gone back into expenses. But there were so many expenses. I suppose I should have done better research.
I did go to a small business resource center before I started, and they did draw up a business plan with projections. The bank and attorney both accepted it. But no one, not I, the banker nor the attorney, expected the state to announce that before I could have a sales tax number, I needed to give them a $4000 bond. This was AFTER all the documents were signed and I already owned the place, with very little money left over for cash flow. I called my representative, and he went to the tax commissioners office to ask why. Even he hadn't heard of such a thing before. He got them to reduce it to $1500, but that was still $1500 I had expected to use for operating expenses.
Then there was the insurance. They wanted $1800 up front, and about $330 a month! That wasn't how much the previous owner paid, and I'd never burned down a building. There was no explanation for the $1800. At least none that I understood. I wrote the check with a lump in my throat. There again went my precious funds in an unexpected direction.
Later, I found a less expensive insurance. Slightly less monthly payments, I mean. Being only two weeks behind on my previous insurance payments when I switched (I'd waited because I was looking for an alternate plan), I and the new insurance agents all assumed I'd get most of my $1800 back. Wrong. The State, in it's infinite wisdom, allows unregulated insurance companies to operate within the state if they are covering difficult clients, such as a new business owner. My initial insurance carrier, it turns out, was unregulated. So, I'm told, they can keep my money if they wish to. Apparently, because I was a new business, my agent wasn't able to find a normal company to take me.
Okay...so do I understand this right? The state requires you to have insurance - but regulated insurances aren't required to take you, and if there isn't an insurance that will take you, you are required to get it through the equivalent of a loan shark. So the state, in other words, required me to go to a loan shark. Is that right? All I know is that I am totally out hundreds of dollars, with nothing to show for it.
Further, I expected the sales tax, but hadn't been clear about all of the payroll taxes. I'm new to all this. Let's see...federal tax, state tax, unemployment tax, and workman's comp...is that all? Oh my gosh. I can't afford all this!
Now, I read in the paper that small businesses will be taxed even more to pay for Obama's new health care plan. Taxed more? Where am I supposed to get the money? Again, I haven't even been able to pay myself from this business yet!
I'll tell you something. I am a widow with several underage children still in the home. Last week, our family applied for food stamps and we got them. We applied for Medicaid as well, but I didn't qualify because the state figures that I'm taking 25% of my sales home. This, despite that I showed them that my expenses are much more than the sales.
But our family would be completely covered by Medicaid if I just quit this stupid business. Hey, we'd be covered, I'd have a lot less stress, no more payroll taxes or insurance, and some other stupid business person can be stuck paying for our medical. Isn't Obama's America great?
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