A business-friendly environment

[antagon]

I think that a lot of the rhetoric attached to national politics is a bit cliche on the subject of business friendliness. I find local politics and bureaucracy has dramatically more influence on factors which determine friendliness to my businesses. What has been your experience?

 

[VaYank5150]

I think that a lot of the rhetoric attached to national politics is a bit cliche on the subject of business friendliness. I find local politics and bureaucracy has dramatically more influence on factors which determine friendliness to my businesses. What has been your experience?

I would initially disagree with you. Specifically, which local politics and bureaucracy have influenced your particular business and how?

 

[The Rabbi]

I think that a lot of the rhetoric attached to national politics is a bit cliche on the subject of business friendliness. I find local politics and bureaucracy has dramatically more influence on factors which determine friendliness to my businesses. What has been your experience?

It will depend on what your business is.
Currently I must do the following:
Log in every firearm in a ledger.
Complete a Form 4473 for every buyer, making sure every space is filled out correctly.
Log out each firearm to a buyer, or verify another dealers license and log it out to him
File a multiple handgun report for any buyer purchasing 2 or more within 5 days, one copy to ATF, one to local law enforcement and one for my records.
File sales tax reports every month
File Franchise and Excise taxes once a year
File alarm registration once a year
File firearms manufacture report once a year (we dont manufacture firearms but have a license to do so)
File ammunition manufacture report every year and pay tax (we do manufacture ammunition)
Renew my license every 3 years

Now I read I must complete a 1099 for every supplier I pay over $500 to. That will be another enormous burden.

For a big company that does business all over the country Federal regs must be a nightmare.

 

[antagon]

i'm in construction, yank. more time and cost is tied up in mine and my customer's business development than we pay in tax. furthermore, this sort of red tape is less predictable and more restrictive on businesses than some of the pop cliches about tax rates which are easy to pass on down the line.

what about opening hours for retail establishments? compared to las vegas, for example, other municipalities are denying their local enterprises the opportunity to get maximal returns on their property investment, essentially deflating the utility and by extention the value of commercial real estate. this is at the center of our economic troubles right now.

there's a lot of whining about the feds lending a hand in the economic pits we're in, but local governments don't budge.

 

[antagon]

i feel your pain and take your point, rabbi. i just find things coming from the fed angle to be more clean cut and predictable, and that the local backscratching, noserubbing shit is cumbersome to me and my clients when we are trying to get things done. you simply cant be competitive and accountable for that one egotistical ass at the planning department at the same time. so many folks looking to start new businesses have to deal with local obstructionists pointing 180* from where we need to be in terms of recovery. perhaps a big part of it is their political isolation. the worst government employee is a non-uniformed, non-elected highly empowered clown. i guess they're in the fed gov't too. i just end up dealing with forms 80% of my interaction with them -- better than across the planning window, just out of range of a good strangling .

 

[The Rabbi]

i feel your pain and take your point, rabbi. i just find things coming from the fed angle to be more clean cut and predictable, and that the local backscratching, noserubbing shit is cumbersome to me and my clients when we are trying to get things done. you simply cant be competitive and accountable for that one egotistical ass at the planning department at the same time. so many folks looking to start new businesses have to deal with local obstructionists pointing 180* from where we need to be in terms of recovery. perhaps a big part of it is their political isolation. the worst government employee is a non-uniformed, non-elected highly empowered clown. i guess they're in the fed gov't too. i just end up dealing with forms 80% of my interaction with them -- better than across the planning window, just out of range of a good strangling .

A friend of mine is in explosives and yes, the local stuff is a killer. The regs are pettier and more self contradictory.

 

[kwc57]

I think that a lot of the rhetoric attached to national politics is a bit cliche on the subject of business friendliness. I find local politics and bureaucracy has dramatically more influence on factors which determine friendliness to my businesses. What has been your experience?

It will depend on what your business is.
Currently I must do the following:
Log in every firearm in a ledger.
Complete a Form 4473 for every buyer, making sure every space is filled out correctly.
Log out each firearm to a buyer, or verify another dealers license and log it out to him
File a multiple handgun report for any buyer purchasing 2 or more within 5 days, one copy to ATF, one to local law enforcement and one for my records.
File sales tax reports every month
File Franchise and Excise taxes once a year
File alarm registration once a year
File firearms manufacture report once a year (we dont manufacture firearms but have a license to do so)
File ammunition manufacture report every year and pay tax (we do manufacture ammunition)
Renew my license every 3 years

Now I read I must complete a 1099 for every supplier I pay over $500 to. That will be another enormous burden.

For a big company that does business all over the country Federal regs must be a nightmare.

That's kid stuff compared to what we deal with in banking.

 

[The Rabbi]

I think that a lot of the rhetoric attached to national politics is a bit cliche on the subject of business friendliness. I find local politics and bureaucracy has dramatically more influence on factors which determine friendliness to my businesses. What has been your experience?

It will depend on what your business is.
Currently I must do the following:
Log in every firearm in a ledger.
Complete a Form 4473 for every buyer, making sure every space is filled out correctly.
Log out each firearm to a buyer, or verify another dealers license and log it out to him
File a multiple handgun report for any buyer purchasing 2 or more within 5 days, one copy to ATF, one to local law enforcement and one for my records.
File sales tax reports every month
File Franchise and Excise taxes once a year
File alarm registration once a year
File firearms manufacture report once a year (we dont manufacture firearms but have a license to do so)
File ammunition manufacture report every year and pay tax (we do manufacture ammunition)
Renew my license every 3 years

Now I read I must complete a 1099 for every supplier I pay over $500 to. That will be another enormous burden.

For a big company that does business all over the country Federal regs must be a nightmare.

That's kid stuff compared to what we deal with in banking.

How many one-man banks have you ever seen?

But agreed banking is very heavily regulated and after 9/11 even more so.

 

[Madeline]

Among the locals businesses here I've worked on, the auto parts store and the repair shop are both getting hammered...and both by state and local regs. But I have no bars, resturants or (I should be so lucky) banks in my client base. I just happen to think the Op is correct...and BTW, just FINDING an accurate copy of municipal ordinances can be a headache.

 

[antagon]

Among the locals businesses here I've worked on, the auto parts store and the repair shop are both getting hammered...and both by state and local regs. But I have no bars, resturants or (I should be so lucky) banks in my client base. I just happen to think the Op is correct...and BTW, just FINDING an accurate copy of municipal ordinances can be a headache.

griping at the chamber of commerce here and when i had a firm in san diego, has regularly focused on loosening the grip of localized bureaucracy. the bizarre part about it is the enthusiasm with which some municipalities seek to throw a wrench in small business development objectives like expansion and relocation.

i'm sure if the chamber wasn't garbage with their national advocacy, it would be a better venue to voice concerns about federal policies too, though.