Rats Fleeing the Sinking Ship

[Benton]

(01-08-2021, 12:02 AM)SunsetBengal Wrote: I'm not sure about your family, but my paycheck went up after the Trump tax cuts.  I kept my withholding allowance the same as previous, and it was about break even on tax time.

I lost a chunk because of being a small business owner. Not make or break, but his tax plan was great for big companies, not so great for small business owners. On top of that, Kentucky's lawmakers a couple years ago (right after I started the business) expanded what was taxed. They said it wasn't raising taxes, they were just taxing more stuff. Well, when you're doing negotiations, clients don't really care if you have to pay $X in taxes... they got the service for less a few years ago, they want it at that price.

So, yeah, we ended up paying more in taxes.

Of course, then the pandemic hit, which closed my doors after several months of trying to tread water and keep it alive. The state was pretty good. I could've applied for unemployment as small business owner, but didn't think that was right. But the federal response and Trump's in particular pisses me off. Things would've gotten better faster if we'd had a clear response and plan. Instead it was months of 'don't worry, its' not coming; don't worry, you can't catch it; don't listen to your state leaders, you don't need a mask; I'm not wearing a mask, it's not a real virus.'

I don't blame Trump for 'Rona. But I do blame him for how long it's taking to get over the impact of being ill prepared and politicizing it. If he'd done his job and not appointed real estate developers to handle a medical pandemic, maybe I wouldn't be shutting my business down.