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Sorry, but no. I thought the same thing until I actually started a business. Look up how taxes work in California and then look at how they work with respect
by mdorazio 8y ago
Sorry, but no. I thought the same thing until I actually started a business. Look up how taxes work in California and then look at how they work with respect to S Corps. Then look at how large companies hide their profits via schemes like the double Irish, which small businesses have no chance to do.
Just to give you an example - in Los Angeles, the county assess a tax on unsecured property that has absolutely no bearing on your revenue. That's a tax on your office equipment, furniture, machines, etc. The city also assess a tax on revenue, not profit, in excess of $100,000. And even if you don't make a dime in profit, Corps and LLCs still pay a minimum state tax. If you own a building for your business you're also going to pay property tax, and if you don't you're going to pay it in the form of higher rent as well.
To your last point, you need to add an "if" to make it accurate. California is a far better choice than the Midwest or South if you can start a small business with high enough margins to cover the much higher costs of basically everything.
- gamblor956 8y agoSorry, but no. I do this for a living, and you're deliberating misrepresenting how taxes work, including how business property taxes work. To note: a company with millions of dollars of business property might have a $10,000 business property tax bill. If you can't afford that, you have no right to call yourself a functional business. The minimum LLC franchise fee is $800. A real business can afford that, a pretend business cannot. Double-Irish structures don't work to shield US income. They never have, so US companies can't use them to reduce their US taxation either, regardless of size. And finally, you chose a pass-through form of taxation, meaning you chose to be taxed as an individual instead of as a separate entity. That's on you--not on California. That same choice would screw you over pretty much everywhere there's a state income tax--meaning all the states where people actually want to live.