originally appeared on npr.org:
Every time President Obama explains why he wants to increase taxes on the richest 2 percent, Republicans have a ready answer: Most small business owners file their taxes as individuals, and a rate hike would discourage them from hiring new workers.
So when Obama visited the K'NEX factory in Pennsylvania recently to push for his tax plan, House Republicans countered with a campaign-style video, also featuring a Pennsylvania business.
For small business tax help contact this Philadelphia tax lawyer.
In it, Gorski Engineering's owner explains how his company is set up as a "subchapter S" corporation under the tax code. So, however good or bad we do is my income, he says.
But how does that back up the fundamental Republican argument, that a higher tax rate would make it harder for him to hire new workers?
Actually, it doesn't. Which is why, Gorski's owner told NPR in an interview, he specifically avoided saying that in the video. He didn't know that that would be true for his business or a different business unless we understood the complete situation.
Some of these situations, said other business owners, are such that the higher tax rate could actually act as an incentive to hire more employees or invest in new equipment.
Because that would then lower your potential tax rate, according to the owner of Hobby Works, a group of toy stores in the Washington, D.C., area.
If this seems counterintuitive, the answer lies in the way businesses calculate their taxes. Obama's proposal would increase the tax rate, but only for income that exceeds a quarter-million dollars per household.
For some 97 percent of small business owners, that higher rate is irrelevant. They make less than $250,000 a year.
And for those whose income works out to be just over that threshold, one way out of paying that higher tax rate could be to hire one more person — or finally replace that 10-year-old car. These investments would pull net income back under that quarter-million-dollar mark, out of range of that higher rate.
The owner of Paloma Clothing in Portland, Ore., thinks if you're a person who hates paying taxes, hiring another employee for thirty- or forty-thousand a year is a great way to stay below the new so-called marginal rate.
There are situations, though, where Obama's proposed higher rates would make it tougher for particular small businesses to expand.
Owners of franchise restaurants, for example, who need to save up tens of thousands of dollars in cash so they can open up a new eatery, would have a harder time. Such savings are treated as business profit and, therefore, in the case of most small businesses, personal income prior to the reinvestment.
If that money is taxed at 35 percent instead of 31 percent, it would take somewhat longer to get to the necessary goal, according to the CEO of Florida-based Firehouse Subs.
Gorski Engineering's owner similarly faces that higher tax rate when he saves up for a number of years to hire a highly paid employee or a piece of earth-moving equipment.
Gorski Engineering's owner indicated that if he started to build a nest egg again, if I start to invest in equipment and things but I don't have as much to do that, or invest in people, which is our biggest resource, I don't have as much to do that, that's going to be difficult.
Of course, when Gorski finally does hire that expensive employee or buys that pricey backhoe, he will have a large, new expense he can write off — potentially offsetting some or most of the extra taxes he had to pay earlier.
The owner of Hobby Works, says there's really nothing new or unusual about taking the tax code into account when making business decisions.
He indicated the fact of the matter is, businesses, all businesses, large and small, do this all the time.
One business strategy is to continually plow extra profit back into the business to avoid those higher tax rates. Eventually, the owner can sell the business or take it public, and convert those years of deferred income into a big cash payout.
And depending on how it's handled, selling a business can be considered capital gains, taxed at a lower rate right now, a much lower rate.
Showing posts with label Philadelphia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Philadelphia. Show all posts
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Man Accused in Officer's Death Slugs his Lawyer
Philadelphia Inquirer
For years, Philadelphia lawyer William L. Bowe has represented people most lawyers will not: accused killers, often with long criminal records and short tempers, some of them on what seems like a fast track to death row.
It's the kind of job that might make some lawyers ask for combat pay. In Bowe's case, literally.
On Wednesday - for the second time in seven months - Bowe was assaulted in court by a client, this time Eric DeShann Floyd, one of two men on trial for murder in the 2008 shooting of Police Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski.
Wednesday's attack happened after two days of disruptions of jury selection by Floyd, who has openly argued with Common Pleas Court Judge Renee Cardwell Hughes about her refusal to grant his last-minute request to fire his lawyers and represent himself.
By Tuesday, after Floyd publicly interrupted questioning of a prospective juror, Hughes told him he would watch the rest of the trial in a holding cell via closed-circuit television.
On Wednesday, the judge ordered Floyd back into court to see whether he had changed his mind about behaving. When Floyd said no and Hughes ordered him removed, Floyd swung and punched Bowe behind an ear.
As Bowe slumped to the side, Floyd hit the lawyer again in the back of the head as sheriff's deputies wrestled him away and took him from the courtroom.
Bowe tried to walk from the courtroom with help but was persuaded by paramedics to be moved by stretcher to an ambulance. He was taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital for examination and released.
Floyd's action again postponed jury selection, this time to Friday, when prosecution and defense lawyers - including Bowe - return.
"Mr. Bowe is tired, but he will be in good health when we resume this case on Friday," the judge announced in a brief return to the bench.
Common Pleas Court President Judge Pamela Pryor Dembe said such incidents are always possible in the criminal court system. She said she was pleased that sheriff's deputies subdued Floyd so quickly.
"By and large, when you consider how many unhappy and how many violent people are brought into our courtrooms, and that includes nondefendants as well, it's amazing we don't see this type of thing more often," Dembe said.
As word spread that a lawyer, and specifically Bowe, had been assaulted, colleagues stopped by the third-floor courtroom at the Criminal Justice Center.
Criminal defense lawyer Guy R. Sciolla called Bowe "the consummate professional," whom he has known since the early 1970s, when Bowe was a public defender and he was a city prosecutor.
"I think every lawyer thinks about something like this happening," Sciolla said, adding, "If he [Floyd] is going to do this to Bill Bowe, he would have done it to anybody."
The fact that Bowe will continue representing Floyd shows his professionalism, Sciolla said.
Bowe, 63, has been a fixture of the Center City legal community for decades. Standing well over six feet, with a head of mussed gray hair and a thick mustache, he is soft-spoken and reticent in public, almost a casting director's choice for "country lawyer."
Bowe is cordial, but never comments to reporters. Nor would he Wednesday as he was wheeled to the ambulance.
In recent years, colleagues say, Bowe's solo practice has been limited almost exclusively to murder and death-penalty cases.
Outside court, he has taught trial advocacy at Temple University's law school and conducted professional seminars about death-penalty law.
His last physical encounter with a client was in November, when he was punched out by Eric Arms, 29, moments after a Philadelphia jury convicted Arms of third-degree murder. Arms was sentenced to 18 to 45 years in prison for the murder. He has yet to be tried for assaulting Bowe.
Floyd - short and muscular to Bowe's tall and lanky - is expected to be charged with assault in Wednesday's incident after the current murder trial.
He has a record of arrests for robbery, including a 1994 case in which he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to one to five years in prison.
Floyd, of North Philadelphia, and co-defendant Levon T. Warner, 41, of West Philadelphia, face the possibility of the death penalty if the jury finds them guilty of first-degree murder.
Floyd and Warner are accused of taking part in the May 3, 2008, bank robbery and chase that ended in Port Richmond with Liczbinski, who had been pursuing them, dead of gunshot wounds.
Howard Cain, 33, alleged leader of the group who police say shot the 12-year veteran officer, was killed by police after the three split up and he ran off.
Jury selection in Floyd's and Warner's trial began Monday and Floyd began interrupting the proceedings, demanding the right to fire Bowe, who he said "rubbed me the wrong way."
Floyd complained that Bowe and co-counsel Earl G. Kauffman were not asking questions or raising pretrial issues that he thought were important.
Still, Floyd's disruptions were only vocal. Until Wednesday.
It's the kind of job that might make some lawyers ask for combat pay. In Bowe's case, literally.
On Wednesday - for the second time in seven months - Bowe was assaulted in court by a client, this time Eric DeShann Floyd, one of two men on trial for murder in the 2008 shooting of Police Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski.
Wednesday's attack happened after two days of disruptions of jury selection by Floyd, who has openly argued with Common Pleas Court Judge Renee Cardwell Hughes about her refusal to grant his last-minute request to fire his lawyers and represent himself.
By Tuesday, after Floyd publicly interrupted questioning of a prospective juror, Hughes told him he would watch the rest of the trial in a holding cell via closed-circuit television.
On Wednesday, the judge ordered Floyd back into court to see whether he had changed his mind about behaving. When Floyd said no and Hughes ordered him removed, Floyd swung and punched Bowe behind an ear.
As Bowe slumped to the side, Floyd hit the lawyer again in the back of the head as sheriff's deputies wrestled him away and took him from the courtroom.
Bowe tried to walk from the courtroom with help but was persuaded by paramedics to be moved by stretcher to an ambulance. He was taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital for examination and released.
Floyd's action again postponed jury selection, this time to Friday, when prosecution and defense lawyers - including Bowe - return.
"Mr. Bowe is tired, but he will be in good health when we resume this case on Friday," the judge announced in a brief return to the bench.
Common Pleas Court President Judge Pamela Pryor Dembe said such incidents are always possible in the criminal court system. She said she was pleased that sheriff's deputies subdued Floyd so quickly.
"By and large, when you consider how many unhappy and how many violent people are brought into our courtrooms, and that includes nondefendants as well, it's amazing we don't see this type of thing more often," Dembe said.
As word spread that a lawyer, and specifically Bowe, had been assaulted, colleagues stopped by the third-floor courtroom at the Criminal Justice Center.
Criminal defense lawyer Guy R. Sciolla called Bowe "the consummate professional," whom he has known since the early 1970s, when Bowe was a public defender and he was a city prosecutor.
"I think every lawyer thinks about something like this happening," Sciolla said, adding, "If he [Floyd] is going to do this to Bill Bowe, he would have done it to anybody."
The fact that Bowe will continue representing Floyd shows his professionalism, Sciolla said.
Bowe, 63, has been a fixture of the Center City legal community for decades. Standing well over six feet, with a head of mussed gray hair and a thick mustache, he is soft-spoken and reticent in public, almost a casting director's choice for "country lawyer."
Bowe is cordial, but never comments to reporters. Nor would he Wednesday as he was wheeled to the ambulance.
In recent years, colleagues say, Bowe's solo practice has been limited almost exclusively to murder and death-penalty cases.
Outside court, he has taught trial advocacy at Temple University's law school and conducted professional seminars about death-penalty law.
His last physical encounter with a client was in November, when he was punched out by Eric Arms, 29, moments after a Philadelphia jury convicted Arms of third-degree murder. Arms was sentenced to 18 to 45 years in prison for the murder. He has yet to be tried for assaulting Bowe.
Floyd - short and muscular to Bowe's tall and lanky - is expected to be charged with assault in Wednesday's incident after the current murder trial.
He has a record of arrests for robbery, including a 1994 case in which he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to one to five years in prison.
Floyd, of North Philadelphia, and co-defendant Levon T. Warner, 41, of West Philadelphia, face the possibility of the death penalty if the jury finds them guilty of first-degree murder.
Floyd and Warner are accused of taking part in the May 3, 2008, bank robbery and chase that ended in Port Richmond with Liczbinski, who had been pursuing them, dead of gunshot wounds.
Howard Cain, 33, alleged leader of the group who police say shot the 12-year veteran officer, was killed by police after the three split up and he ran off.
Jury selection in Floyd's and Warner's trial began Monday and Floyd began interrupting the proceedings, demanding the right to fire Bowe, who he said "rubbed me the wrong way."
Floyd complained that Bowe and co-counsel Earl G. Kauffman were not asking questions or raising pretrial issues that he thought were important.
Still, Floyd's disruptions were only vocal. Until Wednesday.
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