At what point has someone demonstrated need?

[Mrs Mungo]

Self-employment requires capital and these days, a tremendous amount of luck. According to Bloomberg Business Week

 

Do you beleive these stats, given GE's bookkeeping?

 

Are you suggesting that small business owners get the same tax breaks as giant corporations? Because that is SO wrong I don't even know where to start!!

 

I believe people should help as they can; churches should have social programs, funded by their own money. The American governmental tax system was set up to fund such things as national highways, not feed, clothe and house the poor.

 

Have you ever directly worked in a church food bank? Fraud is common. Every one that I have ever helped in has had to continually review its policies, and frequently considered shutting down because of it. Government can monitor need better than private individuals. Government can *better* help people from falling through the cracks than private individuals. Government can better help people who don't speak the dominant language better than private individuals. No, it's not perfect, I agree. It will never be perfect. But, I think it *is* better than private organizations only.

 

No one is going to turn their neighbor in, especially on this small a scale.

 

Not true at all, it happens every day.

 

So, how do you do these things legally? The process of getting the required business licenses, obtaining business liability insurance, filing self-employment taxes, etc. are overwhelming to me. I'd like to do something like tutoring or teaching homeschool classes but I can't get past being overwhelmed by the incomprehensible legal paperwork involved just so I can earn a couple hundred dollars a month, and I can't afford an attorney to decipher it all for me.

Have you checked http://www.sba.gov/ ? If there is an office in your area (most decent sized cities have an office), they often do classes, offer grants and so forth. I don't know if they will be open over the next couple of weeks, but it is *well* worth giving them a call.

 

My daughter wants to sell bracelets she makes online. After my above experience, I think it would be best if she gave up on the idea. It's hard enough to get the initial business licenses let alone collect and pay sales tax and figure out how her income taxes are suppose to be filed. And my understanding is that if she makes too much, she'd have to file individually and we'd lose our deduction. It's just not worth it.

As long as she's profiting under $500/year, you don't really need to worry about any of that. eta: She'd have to be paying you rent and all sorts of things before you lost your deduction.

[mommymilkies]

Maybe it depends on your city/state. Because here, 20 kids at your house would definitely get you called in and you would be in big trouble. There are state approved limits and licenses. My mom used to do daycare before her divorce.

 

And how is it more ethical to illegally watch 20 kids (in what can not possibly be a safe manner to have that many kids with that little supervision in a small house) than to get food stamps if you have a phone? Heck, at the very least they help you pay for basic phone here so that you can be contacted for jobs & by social services to help you out. Well, they used to. I can't speak for current policy.

 

Here unemployment is very high and there are SO many jobs for handymen, babysitters, housecleaners, etc. The market is saturated and unless you've been in it for ages and are a townie, you're not going to get work.

[unsinkable]

Some would say never. That's the bottom line. It sucks, but some people would rather see your children starve that eat any food provided by tax dollars. The last thread where I referenced Dickens got deleted, so I will refrain from that.

 

Well, if Dickens gets deleted, you can always try some Jonathan Swift. ;)

 

:lol: