DC taxes hurt small businesses
The problem is the chains will not make the neighborhood a neighborhood, it will just make it another part of generica. Sitting with Richard Layman at a window table at the Big Bear Cafe we very briefly mentioned how the city actually hurts small business. Taxes is one method of putting on the hurt as reported in today's Post article "Feeling the Pinch of D.C.'s Prosperity.And the city does give lip service about supporting the arts. Having Warehouse consider closing down, and stressing other live action theaters, art galleries (particularly the ones that don't feature art that goes well with the living room couch), and other artsy venues with high taxes is quite unsupportive.
Come on there must be a couple of intelligent people on the council who could think of a way to properly tax businesses, small businesses, the businesses who take a chance on transitional neighborhoods like mine, without discouraging them and pushing them out. Why would a 10% cap be bad? If that's intolerable how's about a 20% cap? Well Jack (Evans, who supports a 10% cap, though no one else on the Council seems to) I support you.
posted by Mari @ 20.7.07
4 Comments:
DC is an awful place to have a business. Running a business where there is a socialist mentality is hard enough, but couple that with an incompetent bureaucracy (and the highest taxes in the region) and you have trouble. I have a small business and wound up setting it up in Virginia and "technically" only conduct business there, even though 90% of my customers live in DC. I'm willing to risk it just to avoid dealing with the DC government in any way, shape, or form.
Small business is not understood or respected in this town. That's why many of the service trades moved to the burbs and DCRA is largely responsible.
How much of the new developement money ($75 million) Jack was crowing about goes to small businesses? Why does DC focus tax credits only on big "developers"?
A 10% cap is a good start. But it is crazy that assessments should go up 500% in one year. It seems that the Office of Tax and Revenue has been under-assessing properties for a long time. This is the case on 9th and 7th Street. Why has OTR under-assessed this area?
The Rupperts (Warehouse) were on the same block 1 big developer (Jemal) bought, thus jacking up the 'value'. It's amazing how one entity can screw up several people.
Anyway, yes, the DC government practices Socialism, fosters a culture of dependency, and is hostile to independent businesses. From what I've heard from some small business people (service & bricks & mortar) DCRA is too slow and/or wastes your time. On a trip to London I was in Brixton and noticed a entrepreneur in the crack between two buildings, in a space no bigger than a closet, selling phone cards and small things, and wondered to myself, could someone start off in a business like that? Can you start very small and grow your business in DC? Not legally.
Really, if you're a kid and you want to set up a lemonade stand, what set of hoops would you need to jump through to sell legally. Best thing to do is be illegal knowing that DC is lousy with enforcement too.
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