‘$196,876,282.12’
courtesy of ‘M.V. Jantzen’
Thanks much to tipster Jennifer who reminded us that today’s the day: the City Council is taking up expanding the service tax to raise revenue. Included in what you might start paying new taxes on are personal instruction, massage services, magazines, house cleaning, gym membership fees, carpet cleaning and cultural event ticket costs. Chances are, if you do business with someone in a one-on-one sort of way, the city wants a cut of the transaction, and that extends from personal trainers, to maid service, to pet grooming.
I know times are tough in the budget arena, but the answer during a recession, or the early rebound from one, is not to increase the load on area small businesses. While the list of services at the Post’s blog doesn’t include my own area of IT Consulting, it’s a short leap from the current list to an expanded list. If you operate a personal services business, or side gig, this might affect what you do, if you’re a dogwalker, or masseuse, or work at a gym, chances are you’re going to be responsible for tax collection and disbursement, adding a whole other line item to your administrative routine and complicating what it takes to do business.
If you don’t want your gym bill to go up, or any of the other personal services you purchase to go up, email your city council rep. Don’t know who that is? Find out with your address. Over 2,000 people had emailed Mary Cheh as of yesterday, and more than that had hit Jim Graham.
There’s really no “good” way to raise taxes, but focusing on small local businesses after you’ve driven the big ones to the burbs? That’s just insult to injury, DC Council.
I live and work in the District of Columbia. I write at We Love DC, a blog I helped start, I work at Technolutionary, a company I helped start, and I’m happy doing both. I enjoy watching baseball, cooking, and gardening. I grow a mean pepper, keep a clean scorebook, and wash the dishes when I’m done. Read Why I Love DC.
As usual, we want to cut off taxes and hope the money comes from some other, magical source….which it never does
If we tax the big companies, we are told we are killing the big boys who help fund the city….and that hurts our long-term future. If we tax the little guys, we are the bad guys taxing the middle class and killing humanity. If we tax things like this, we are desperate
We need the money people….badly….
I wish I felt I could agree with you, Aloy. I think there are more honest ways to do this that won’t drastically complicate the day to day operations of small businesses, upon whose revival we are dependent.