Here we go again. The Malibu bureaucrats are restless! The front-page story in The Malibu Times reports our city is interested in a home-based business license and tax. You mean I don’t pay enough in taxes? My federal, state, property, sales, telephone and utility surcharges, car registration and numerous other hidden taxes don’t cover my burden to government? Greedy bureaucrats must lay awake at night thinking of new ways to get their hands in my pockets. You just don’t get it, do you?
When England raised taxes recently, Mick Jagger and The Rolling Stones canceled their entire concert tour, rather than pay the outrageous new taxes. When Tiger Woods signed a $50 million deal with Nike, he made sure to first relocate from California to Florida, a state without income taxes. Voters and entrepreneurs (even rock stars and golfers) vote with their feet. If they are no longer willing to pay outrageous taxes, they leave. Well, if Mick Jagger and Tiger Woods earn $50 million a year and won’t pay outrageous taxes, why should average taxpayers?
Home-based business — along with the world-wide web — is the fastest growing business in America. In 1980, there were 3 to 5 million home-based entrepreneurs. Today there are over 40 million and growing fast. Home-based business keeps entrepreneurs off the road, saving gas and oil, reducing pollution and traffic and saving precious resources. Home-based business allows mothers and fathers to stay at home with their children, thereby building stronger families. Home-based business allows individuals to own their own business without spending huge sums of money — thereby encouraging entrepreneurship and financial freedom. Home-based business employs millions and generates billions in revenues.
And, because it keeps home-owners at home, it’s great for Malibu — we shop locally! That raises sales tax revenues here in Malibu. So where’s the problem? Why does government suddenly want to get involved and spoil a good thing? Why tax, license and regulate a growing business that’s good for the economy and is working so well without your help? Are you angry? Annoyed? Jealous? Feeling left out of the picture?
Now let’s look at what government does for the home-based business owner. As a Malibu homeowner, my government doesn’t even fix my roads. I live in a private, gated community. Government doesn’t bring me my water. I rely on a well. You don’t take away my waste. I have a septic tank and hire private garbage contractors. You don’t educate my daughter. I home-school her with private tutors. You certainly don’t finance my business. I put up all the money and take all the risk. You don’t put up any of the labor.
In all these years I’ve worked to get from a blue collar apartment in Mount Vernon, New York, to a million dollar estate in Malibu, not once have I seen government sweating alongside me. Not once have I seen you working at 1 a.m. to help me pay my mortgage or my credit card bills. Now Malibu government wants another piece of my income, to give me the right to conduct my business in my home — even though I’ve done it just fine without their help or permission for years. No thanks!
I know I’m speaking for many Malibuites. I won’t pay! I will fight this tax with everything I’ve got. If I lose, I’ll fight day and night to throw the bums out who voted the tax in. (Recall election, anyone?) And if I lose again, I’ll vote with my feet and move my family to a low tax state like Nevada or Florida, where success is rewarded, not penalized. Malibu City Hall note: This Tax is Dead on Arrival.
Wayne Allyn Root