PEMBROKE, Mass. — Tax preparation is upon us once again. It is an annual ritual where we bring our figures to our accountant and the information is assembled. The finished forms are handed to you and you write out checks to the federal and state tax authorities.
It has come to my attention that not all Laundromat operators are honest with their figures. I will argue, both from personal and societal positions, that being dishonest where taxes are concerned is wrong. It doesn’t help a store owner or their business in the long run. And it is not good for them personally.
As I explained in Part 1, it is fraud to understate income, an offense punishable by jail time and heavy fines. Also, the figures collected represent valuable business management information beyond being used to pay taxes. If you don’t use correct figures, the information will be corrupted and cannot be used reliably to make good business decisions.
A final reason you should pay your fair taxes is because you’re a person of integrity. You like to talk to anybody about your business. If you were cheating the government, you would become reticent, afraid, and less open. Your attitude should be that you run your business so that it earns a profit. You pay your fair taxes, and you’re proud that you do your share to keep the economy (and country) going.
Now to the other side of the ledger. Namely, we receive benefits from our taxes. First off, you are allowed to operate a business and to do as well as you can. That is our free enterprise system. If you lived in China, for instance, you would be extremely limited in what you could do. The greatness of our country is that the opportunity is there to do whatever you want. That freedom principle is worth paying for.
We enjoy a safe society. Despite the occasional incident (extremely rare considering we’re a country of 320 million people), we feel unafraid almost anywhere. That goes a long way toward doing business, not to mention living one’s life. Consider a country like Israel which has incidents regularly. There is palpable tension in the air.
We don’t have that. Our law enforcement organizations have done a good job of keeping the peace. In addition, our military has kept wars out of our country. That privilege of stability is worth paying for.
We have fine infrastructure. Our roads, highways, public transportation, communication networks and postal service all energize our society. With them, we are better able to operate our businesses.
We can order an item from across the country, and it appears on our doorstep the next day. Without infrastructure, running a business efficiently would be impossible. Infrastructure is expensive, and we must pay for it.
We have all sorts of bureaucratic organizations working for us. The Food and Drug Administration ensures that the food we eat is safe. The Department of Health and Human Safety keeps us healthy. The Department of Education educates our youth. All these are benefits to running our business. Such oversight costs money and it is our responsibility to keep it going.
We have a safety net of welfare payments that ensure our poorest citizens have food, enjoy shelter, and are able to live modestly. The net result of these programs is that the population stays reasonably content.
We pay for our better society. This is why you should be honest with your taxes.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Bruce Beggs at [email protected].