I hear lots of talk from Politicians from Obama to Palin and every hack in between talking about helping small businesses. If they want any ideas (as if they really actually DO want to help small business), here is one:

I recently checked something for a client. It had to do with when he charged Sales Tax for the pastries he sold. The following is from the State website:

“Other retailers with eating facilities (for example, grocery and convenience stores with tables, trays, chairs, benches, or booths) should continue to collect sales tax on all food sold heated or with eating utensils, including milk sold with cups or straws. Individual-sized packages or portions are still taxable, except for bakery items sold without eating utensils.”

I guess yes or no wasn’t going to work for them. If my client sells a pastry on a plate with a fork, it’s taxed. If he sells the same pastry and puts it in a bag it’s not taxed.Well that clears it up, oh, by the way if he sells it in a bag but puts in a plastic fork he has to charge tax.

And this is just for a pastry, mutiply this times about 1,000 and you can see why charging sales tax is a nightmare for small businesses.

How ’bout fixing this first Mr/Mrs Politician? When you are done with this one I’ll give you another one or 500! I’m not even asking for a bailout, just a little common sense.