Over at Tax.com, David Brunori calls Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee’s latest state sales tax proposal “awful.” You see, Governor Chafee wants to levy a tax on goods and services sold by Ocean State businesses. Examples of previous tax-exempt services include “data processing, landscaping, taxi fares, garbage collection, auto repairs and tickets to theaters and sporting events,” while it would also tax goods such as “agricultural products, boats, clothing, manufacturing machinery.”
Brunori writes that this idea is horrendous because it not only, “violates every notion of sound sales tax policy,” but because the Rhode Island rubes won’t even realize that the tax is ultimately being passed on to them:
In general, businesses should not pay sales tax on their purchases. When they do, the tax is passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices. The tax is often included in the final purchase price and taxed again. The funny thing is that citizens do not know they are being secretly taxed. Everyone knows this.
So wait…do the citizens know they are being taxed or does “everyone” simply mean tax policy wonks? Putting our confusion aside for a second, Governor Chafee has defied the haters like Brunori and Rhode Island businesses, standing by his proposal. But if you’ve got a better idea, he’s more than happy to hear your out:
Chafee said it’s up to his critics to suggest a better option. “Crisis calls for leadership,” Chafee, an independent, said at an impromptu press conference called after the rally. “If you don’t like my proposal, what’s the alternative? No politician likes to raise taxes. … We’re waiting for a better idea.”
Terrible Tax Idea of the Week [Tax.com]
Chafee firm as business groups protest tax plan [Tto10]
In 2017, I made $29 as an tax intern at big daddy D but I am not sure where I was in the range of compensation for interns at that time…but in today’s economy I think $30 is very low. $40 seems fair considering how much starting salaries have grown in the last couple of years.
Cut your losses and jump ship.
Long timer CPA
With master’s in taxation and other master’s degree in business, I believe working for a CPA firm is a loss of time.
Unfortunately, time is the only valuable assets you have if you are not one of the chosen in the firm because of personality, revenue, shear ability, labor on fixed salary or nepotism, then you lose as the firm will always monitor utilization and profit per employee. You become less useful and a fixed cost, thus management team never tries to expand $$/hour or deeply train skills of underlying’s because it’s all about being a highly paid partner and making a trip to the deposit box. And that deposit timeframe only last so long and they know it.
Not necessarily defending PwC, but maybe keep in mind a few things: (1) These are college students, not graduates. (2) Many internships and summer jobs pay substantially less (even minimum wage). (3) There’s a lot of fluff in Big 4 internships, like group trips to fun locations, “community projects,” etc.
It’s not like PwC is going to make any real money off work performed by interns. It’s ultimately just a cost center for the firm, to try & recruit a fresh class on new hires when they graduate.