Great work, Florida legislators!

Yesterday marked the first day back in session for the Florida Legislature and they did some good work for the people of Florida!

If you've been following our state politics, you'll recognize this is a great move by Gov. Crist. He has not been recognized as a spend-thrift or budget-balancing governor. By suspending tax increases on small business owners, he is trying to position himself in the Senate race, for which he's losing to Marco Rubio in the current polls.

There's also been rumor that he will change parties so he doesn't have to do the Republican primary vs. Rubio. I have a feeling that he'll be better off in the general election if he can just get out of the primaries.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Bill Herrle, (850) 681-0416

Tax Rate Decrease Saves Small Business, Jobs

Tallahassee, March 2, 2010– The following statement from Bill Herrle, executive director of the National Federation of Independent Business/Florida, may be used in whole or part in your media outlet.

“The National Federation of Independent Business/Florida applauds Governor Charlie Crist, Senate President Jeff Atwater and House Speaker Larry Cretul for suspending the massive unemployment tax increase on Florida’s small businesses.

“The passage of this legislation is exactly the kind of economic stimulus our state needs, and the best way to bring jobs back to Florida.

“This is great news for Florida’s small business owners, who are Florida’s job creators. Small business owners are the men and women who will lead the state’s job growth and ultimately the state’s economic recovery. Such a large tax increase would surely have killed any hope for job growth in Florida this year.

“NFIB/Florida and the small business community thank the legislative leadership for recognizing the need to protect business owners, Florida’s job creators, from such a tremendous increase and answering the call to help Florida on the road back to prosperity.”

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Daytona's economic stimulus

photo of me with my Dad & brother TJ at Dirty Harry's on Main Street Daytona!

I love Bike Week!

This time each winter hundreds of thousands of people meet in Daytona to share common interests of riding motorcycles and enjoying life. There's little more American than riding a bike on the open roads!

It's reported that the 69th Annual Bike Week will bring in a projected $300,000,000 to our local economy! We're only on day 2 of the 10 day festival and everyone I talked to on Main Street yesterday is elated with the business so far.

Hey locals - enjoy the stimulus! And appreciate that Bike Week embodies the American spirit of freedom.

History of Bike Week. Happy 69th Birthday!!

2nd Freedom Ride

Help us raise awareness for FairTax! We're bringing FairTax to the Freedom Rally as the SOLUTION to our economic problems. Join us - with our without a bike!! FairTax will also have a table at the event all day.

Second Freedom Ride presented by FairTax

Meet 11:30am @ Daytona City Island (355 N. Beach St.)

Leave noon for Freedom Rally @ Volusia Fairgrounds

If it rains, the plan is still on - in our cars!!

If you're not interested in joining the ride or visiting the Freedom Rally, you can still swing by City Island to get some FairTax gear! (stickers, car flags, t-shirts, FairTax books...)

I'm looking forward to seeing you tomorrow!

Kristina

P.S. FairTax is a national movement to replace the Federal Income & Payroll Tax with a retail sales tax. Instead of paying taxes when we earn or invest our money, we will pay taxes when we spend our money. Everyone in America will pay taxes, not just those of us who legally report our income.

Profits are American

I've said it before and I'll say it again: business in America are here to make a profit.

No one goes into business hoping to just break even or worse yet, borrow government stimulus dollars just to make payroll. Most small business owners start out with a big dream to provide a product or service and make loads of money doing it! It's the American dream, right?

There's a lot of public outcry to "tax the rich", "tax the evil corporations" or to make them "pay their fair share". Before 1913, our federal government was fully funded through excises taxes apportioned throughout the United States (meaning there were no direct taxes punishing particular sets of people; to distribute taxes proportionally). Taxes were meant to be voluntary and people paid them when they purchased certain items or services. In 1909, Congress passed income taxes on corporations and just 4 years later, our personal income tax system was born.

Do you know how it was passed? Politicians promised that only the RICH would pay income taxes! At the time, several states in the Union, including Missouri & Georgia, had zero residents who qualified for the income tax.

So anyway, back to business taxation and profits. Businesses are not only taxed on income, but they're taxed on every single employee through a payroll tax. So when we hire someone, we must pay 7.65% on top of every dollar we pay them. That's an exclusive tax (tax on-top of the cost). Then, the employee also pays 7.65% of every dollar they earn - an inclusive tax because it's taken from the earnings, not added to it.

That additional 7.65% on top every dollar paid to an employee literally removes profit from the business owner's bottom line. Since we're all in business to make money, we must adjust the price of our goods and services to remain profitable every single time we have a tax increase.

I know I'm going in a few different directions here, but it's all so important!

Not only do businesses pay payroll taxes on their own employees and income tax on profit, when we purchase goods from another company (like chicken wings in my case), we are paying the payroll taxes and income taxes that the seller has calculated into the cost of their goods. These taxes are embedded into the cost of everything we purchase. And remember, because of payroll and income taxes, we don't even get to keep our whole paycheck! We're buying these things with after tax money and paying the taxes that are rolled into the product or service.

Okay, back to profit. Profit is not how much I sell a chicken wing for - I don't get to keep all that money! Profit is how much I keep after I pay for that chicken wing, the wing sauce, ranch dressing, the container, the wet nap, the napkins, the insurance on my establishment, drivers insurance, natural gas and electricity, cleaning products, cooking oil, uniforms, printer ink, employee pay and payroll taxes... and more. Profit margin is the difference between what I cumulatively pay and what I sell it for. For most industries, profit margins are slim. We're working hard each week to pay all the bills and hopefully save some money to pay forward towards expansions or replacement equipment.

Here's where we get back to "taxing corporations". In order to be successful and to continually grow and change, companies must make a profit. When we increase taxes on corporations (small and large), they must adjust costs in order to stay in business. Profit margin is a percentage, so if you sell a million dollars a year, your 5% profit margin is $50,000. If you're a $10,000,000 company, your profit margin is $500,000. So, the more we tax a business, the less they have to invest in growth and the more inclined they are to raise taxes or fire employees - or gosh forbid - leave the United States.

Here's a diagram listing profit margins for different industries.

Are you one of those people who claim insurance companies make "obscene profits"? Well, look at their profit margin! (It's 3.3%; hospitals make 3.6%) Insurance companies run at very low profit margins. Profits matter less than profit margin. The more money you generate at the very same profit margin will automatically result in higher profit dollars. Often times, the larger a company gets, the lower the profit margin.

Seriously, look at all the industries making more than 10% profit margin. Where's the outcry? Where's the screaming and taxing?

If nothing else, remember two things: (1) businesses are here to make a profit; (2) only people pay taxes. Raise taxes on businesses and it rolls downhill (or floats overseas).

I like this guy.

Check out Zo's website at www.machosauceproductions.com. I completely agree with him on hyphenated-Americanism and color-blindness. Yes, I can see the color of your skin. No, it doesn't matter to me.

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." -MLK

Over control

Are you kidding me?? Check out this article and let me know what you think.

Okay, I can't keep my opinion inside... the article says that doctors in America want stricter regulations on HOT DOGS. That's right, hot-freakin'-dogs. Oscar Mayer already puts warnings on their dogs about choking hazards, but that's not enough! The regulation isn't about the nastiness that children are ingesting with a wiener, it's about the choking hazard.

Do these jacks really think that more government sanctioned labeling will create some sort of parental responsibility? It's not going to happen! Seriously, every parent on the freakin' planet knows that kids can choke (so can adults but whatcha gonna do about that?). We know that "children eating" is an activity that needs supervision.

How about parents taking responsibility for their offspring by watching WHAT they eat and WATCH them when they eat it?! It's vital that we parents show the doctors and the government jacks that we can take care of our own. We can make good food choices for our kids, which in my case means: (1) hang out with my toddler while he's eating; (2) feed my child healthy foods; (3) absolutely limit junk food like hot dogs, candy & other junk foods (choking hazards listed in the article).

The American Academy of Pediatrics would like to see recalls on food that have a higher incidence of choking. What I'd like to see is parents sitting down with their kids at each and every meal so that the adult is there to make the situation right when they don't chew their food properly or when they accidently inhale a pretzel. That's what parents do: we make sure our kids eat safely.

It's an issue of parental responsibility, not governmental control. Come on, parents! Our kids matter! Be aware of your choices, and have a bigger awareness of government control of our simplest responsibilities. WE CAN DO IT!!

Online Tax Revolt

Have you heard about this yet? With millions of Americans fed up with our tax system, it's no wonder that creative avenues of protest are rising. You can join the Online Tax Revolt at no cost and virtually be there to protest our current tax system.

I am trying to find figures siting how many Americans have been to Washington D.C. I'd guess that not even 50% of us have visited our nation's capital... Surely Americans want to visit D.C., but it's a matter of money & convenience. I mean, this is a big country!! My relatives in California would have to fly for 4 hours and invest some $$ or drive for 4 days just to get there.

So, if you're fed up with the system and aren't sure that you can make it to the April 15 Tax Rally in the Capital, go ahead and sign up online! Create your avatar and be there virtually. Goooo America!!

www.OnlineTaxRevolt.com