PEMBROKE, Mass. — Tax time is here again. Before I give you some tax tips, I want to tell you to pay your fair taxes. I know that not all of you do.
While visiting a dry cleaner’s store, he said to me, “I pay myself a salary of $25,000, $500 a week. But I can’t make it on that. So I take another $20,000 out of here,” pointing to his cash register.
I looked around his small shop. This owner has worked hard 15 years to make his living. He’s doing no more business now than he was a decade ago, and he still does the lion’s share of volume himself. He works 50-55 hours a week processing clothes.
I ask myself, has he not progressed because he skims the top? Is he not interested in building a business? Is his only goal to make a living?
Would it have been different if he drew a fair salary, paid his fair share of taxes, and stayed focused on the business? I can’t say for certain, but I bet his unwarranted withdrawals have had something to do with his lack of progress.
