Letters to the Editor 10/11

Taxed to the max

In 2007 I opened a small services business in SLO. My partner and I invested $130,000 in startup costs. I leased back the equipment I had contributed to the company for $100,000. Big mistake!

SLO County, notified of the leased equipment, taxed me for “unsecured, taxable assets.” All for the privilege of bringing income-generating equipment into my business, plus sales tax on the lease each month.

Alas, thanks to the county’s unfathomable system of assessment and tax-collecting practices (that defy the principles I learned in Accounting 101), the value of the equipment has gone up every year. (Oh, and my accountant helps me fight that, at a rate of $300 per hour.)

I collect sales tax for the city, county and state, create jobs (read: payroll tax, etc.), add revenue to local advertising media (i.e. The Tribune), and pay lease tax on my office, water/sewer/trash taxes, and taxes to the state and federal government. God forbid if I should somehow turn a profit!

Now that my business has turned a profit, I wish I could hire more staff and expand my services, but I’m loathe to see the large chunk of my energies going to a county that doesn’t seem to have its own fiscal house in order.

John Vincent

Central California Laser Hair Therapy

Jobs’ inspiration

I wondered why the “T” carried such a long, 6-year-old speech (Commentary, Oct. 7) until I started to read it. Such a powerful message. “You’ve got to find what you love” — how true.

I found what I loved as part of D Day — an education. The GI Bill helped me finish high school and get three college degrees.

Thanks for printing Steve Jobs’ Stanford commencement address — everyone needs that inspiration.

Bill Denneen

Nipomo

Double standard?

I welcome the opportunity for people to express their views, but I find it interesting that in order to have a letter to the editor published, one must identify themselves and their city of residence. This is good.

The comments section of your website does not require this, and the anonymous postings are frequently insensitive to tragic events, racist and appear to be written by uninformed, intoxicated individuals.

It seems that the same standards would apply to the print and Web communications mode and that requiring people to identify themselves would cut down on the insensitive and racist comments and elevate the discussions to at least a high school level.

It would be interesting to hear your justification for not requiring commentators on the Web to identify themselves.

Not anonymous:

Curtis Essen

Arroyo Grande