Thankfully, I did not win Powerball and inherit all of the problems associated with such luck. I’m back at your service without interruption.
Kind of a touchy subject these days, but property tax is back in the news in Jefferson City. The author of the popular Senior Property Tax freeze has introduced legislation in the special session that would eliminate ALL personal property taxes in Missouri and would change how real estate assessments are done. Per the author, “the bill proposes to replace the current valuation system with an objective system that’s based on square footage, age of buildings and tier out properties. “
Representative Ben Keathley of Chesterfield is the author and primary proponent of an overhaul of the taxation of property in Missouri and I suppose these changes would be popular with many, but I’m not smart enough to see how the tiers are going to be much different or more objective than the current system, but I’m certainly no taxation trendsetter.
I can’t see it making it through this special session, but you gotta think it will have some life when the next regular session kicks in this fall.
My favorite local television news stories are the ones that say a “popular” urban coffee shop or micro-brewery has gone out of business. Typically, they have gone out of business because they don’t have any business, which seems consistent with “not popular,” but I don’t make the rules.
Speaking of coffee shops, has there ever been an industry that gets treated with such kid gloves by the media as much as these places in their infancy? It just kind of defies logic on why they are rolled out with such fanfare, without acknowledging the high failure rate of like businesses.
Just for the record, 60% of locally owned, urban-centered coffee shops don’t make it five years. Micro-breweries in urban settings are in the 50% range and that is likely underreported.
That’s not a dig on people chasing their dream, but it should be acknowledged that you have to beat the trend to survive in any business, let alone flourish and dreams can often end in nightmares.
Business is tough and it’s a lot tougher when you take on the corporate behemoths like these businesses must.
Speaking of nightmares. I’ve reached a new level of aging. I’ve found over the last few years that I can no longer read the labels on the mini shampoo/conditioner/body wash bottles in hotel showers. It’s a new set of fears that sets in when you realize you can’t distinguish between the soaps and you have to make an educated guess and inevitably choose wrong, further crushing your confidence.
I’ve also reached the age that I unplug space heaters before I leave the house for a day or so. Seems like just yesterday that turning them off was sufficient protection for me.
Growing old ain’t for the faint of heart, plan accordingly if you ‘re planning to get old.
I did learn something during this last Powerball craze. Probably need to pick a common place in the house to keep the tickets. When it was announced that there was Missouri winner, I couldn’t locate my wife for ten or twelve hours and it dawned on me that she held our tickets in her car. I quickly checked her closet to make sure her clothes were still there and checked to make sure the dog was with me, and I relaxed a bit. I don’t want to end up in one of those documentaries that lost a fortune and a wife to the lottery, which would be sad.
Honestly, if she won the lottery, she’d probably buy new clothes but just in case, I’m keeping the dog, and the tickets close to me when we play Powerball next.
(Guy Speckman can be reached keeping track of his dog and lottery tickets)
