[Milsurplus] Taxes, taxes, and more taxes

[Mark]

Several years ago, I showed up at the Douglas County Fairgrounds in Castle Rock, CO for a hamfest.  I knew something was wrong - none of the cars in the lot had any antennas.

There were, however, a large number of older women walking in, holding rhinestone-encrusted leashes connected at the other end to what looked like large fuzzy rats.

I checked the register receipt I'd just gotten at the place where I'd eaten an early breakfast.  Yep, I had the date right.

When I looked in the door to see what was up I realized I'd blundered into some sort of dog show.  The venue is an enclosed arena with a dirt floor. Even early on there was dog poop everywhere, and the perfume in the air was definitely not MFP, lemme tell ya.

I asked a couple people if they knew of any other event going on elsewhere on the grounds but I knew this was the only building the club had used in the past.

Turns out the organizers had gotten a notice from the city of Castle Rock that since the fairgrounds was a public facility, henceforth the club was responsible for handing out sales tax I.D. and collection sheets, ensuring the vendors collected sales tax AND, apparently, remitting the collected tax to the city.

The club immediately came to the obvious conclusions that a) they couldn't afford to do that seeing as how the whole thing was run for fun on a shoestring to start with and, b) the requirement was a bunch of CRAP.

So they canceled the whole thing, and haven't been back since.  Most people found out in time from the web, but on the way back out to leave I ran into a few more who hadn't.  We were NOT happy campers.  I'd just driven about two hours.

When I found out what the deal was, I wrote a nastygram to the brain-dead knuckledraggers infesting the Castle Rock Town Council and reamed em' all new ones.  The gist was: "Congratulations, dimwits.  Instead of pulling in some reasonable percentage of sales resulting from all those event attendees buying breakfast and/or lunch and/or gas in your city, you are now getting one hundred percent of NOTHING."

This is what happens when you get people into government who never took Economics 101. (Or flunked it).  BTW, that breakfast was the last time I've ever bought anything in Castle Rock.  And the last time I ever will.

I just checked the fairgrounds calendar.  There are "no events scheduled."  None.

--Mark Francis
  KI0PF

Author of "Mil Spec Radio Gear Volume 2"
available direct from the author,
$29 cash/check/MO including postage, 
$30.17 via Paypal, both within U.S. 
(foreign buyers please contact me).
Signed by request.

Excerpt here:
http://www.mmfrancis.com/MSRG2/MSRG2.pdf

Also available from:
Universal Radio
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/books/3495.html
Fair Radio Sales
https://www.fairradio.com/catalog.php?mode=viewitem&item=6569
Electric Radio
http://www.ermag.com/index.cfm?v_link=product_detail&v_key=415

Volume 1 is still available direct from
CQ Magazine,
http://store.cq-amateur-radio.com/Detail.bok?no=113
Universal Radio,
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/books/0415.html
and Amazon




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                             Astronaut