Giving yourself a raise....................on us!

So, I had a discussion, recently, with someone who does bookkeeping for a lot of small businesses. We were discussing how many small businesses are owned and operated by people, who have absolutely NO business sense. We then realized that most have no common sense as well.

She then shared a story with me that boiled my blood. I was telling her how it amazes me the number of salons that either don’t have the proper licensing or do things that their licenses don’t allow. Then, we got on the subject of sales tax. In PA, you must have a Sales Tax License to sell anything that is taxable. Period.

I was told a story of how a business, who was open for quite some time, sold retail, here and there and diligently collected the 6% sales tax. Problem was, the business never applied for a Sales Tax License. Guess what? No license number? No way to pay the tax.

Did this business owner think, “Gee, I need to pay my sales tax that I’ve collected!” Nope, they just feigned stupidity and POCKETED ALL OF THAT MONEY! Yes, my dear readers, they gave themselves a raise on YOUR DIME!

When the bookkeeper questioned why they hadn’t paid the taxes, the response was “We collected the tax and didn’t know that you had to turn it in.” Are you fucking kidding me? So, you just give yourself a 6% increase! No one can be that STUPID.

They are not stupid, folks. They are crooks. Every small business that you go into, you should ask to see their Sales Tax License, if it is not displayed, like it is required to be. Also, check the date that the license was issued. Then ask yourself, did I pay sales tax or did I give the business owner a little bonus?