Several
times each year, our small California company that fluctuates between
100 to 110 employees is besieged by bureaucratic aliens. They show up
unannounced, flash us their badges after beaming down from their mother
ship, and then expect us to give them our immediate, unadulterated
attention as if our lives revolved around them. This year alone we have
had to entertain CAL-OSHA, the Dept. of Weights and Measures, the Board
of Equalization, various sheriffs and law enforcement agents, and
mandatory worker's comp auditors. Then there are mandatory reports that
come unsolicited in the mail and must be completed, typically in 15 to
30 days; the Multiple Worksite Report every quarter; DOL time clock
punch record audits; UI audits; nosy creditors and student loan repos;
garnishments; the Form 5500 for the DOL; top-heavy testing for 401K; and
the more uncommon but regularly occurring U.S. Census.
I'm just getting started.
We
haven't even broached the complexity required for a corporate tax
return. We are gearing up for that one, as we do every year, using the
long four-month runway to compile all the usual paperwork requested by
our accountant, who relies on the ornate nature of this government
insanity to retain his own sense of relevance. I don't want to travel
down this muddy yet familiar road of IRS humiliation. Over the last two
decades, it has anesthetized my ability to even give a damn anymore.
I'm numb.
So
instead of going down that thrilling road, let's discuss the new one,
as boring as all this other hellishness is, and this new one is
particularly vile.
Last year was the first year of threatening employers with penalties, fines, and fees (also known as taxes,
notwithstanding the Supreme Court), which caused us to scramble around
like female leads in horror movies dragging their bodies along the
ground, trying to avoid the hatchet man. We survived, kind of, because
of phased in forbearance allowing us to dodge a bullet, but we still
lost a lot of blood in the form of lost time.
Read the rest:
Articles: What Government 'Help' Looks Like on the Front Lines
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