As a self- employed full charge bookkeeper:
I am giving out this free advice. I don’t claim to be a fiscal expert, nor a CPA, nor do I admit to having a crystal ball....but:
IF I were your bookkeeper, Mr. “Rich”, I would recommend the following:
Depending on the type of business you are running, most likely one which you built from the ground up, I would browse the parking lot and the Facebook pages of all of your employees. I would lay off ALL of the Obamaites you are now providing with a paycheck.
They are your ENEMY!! Do not be fooled....I said ENEMY and I meant ENEMY!!! They are voting with their precious votes to destroy you and the company you built that provides them with the funds to even purchase that Obama bumper sticker—to put on the car they bought with the money you pay them!!
Another option is to pay yourself ONLY the minimum you require to pay your monthly existance. Mentally, put aside the extra money you would normally pay yourself or in Accounts payable or something & when these stupid tax laws get reversed, make up the difference to yourself.
Look long and hard at the CORE employees you have. Every business has them. They have been with you the longest and are the most dependable to work when there is an emergency & to be accurate in their work. Hand out bonuses to them—quietly and privately. Most likely, they are not in the higher tax bracket you are, and paying them a bonus will support more loyalty. This is a BONUS—NOT a permanent pay hike. Attach it to company profit, which makes them aware of being careful with company expeditures. This will also divert funds on which you will pay a higher tax into a bracket that is much lower. In other words: Get it out of the hands of the Fed government on YOUR tax return.
Make sure that you and your immediate family are taken care of, and I don’t mean with endless funds to spend willy-nilly. Put all of them on a limited budget and stay there. They all have to realize that this is an austerity move, and that your family is not part of ‘The Housewives of Orange County’. I know many people who have built up their businesses and have enjoyed the ability to travel, gamble, or do as they wish with the funds they have. Now is the time to starve the beast of Washington.
Got a teenager who doesn’t cut the lawn because you are paying a lawn service? Tell that kid that they are now the official lawn service!! Trips to the tanning salon are no longer needed because this kid will be out in the real sunshine—mowing the lawn!
Take a look at the cell phones and other electronic items that seem to now be surgically attached to your entire family. Cut down tht usage—or put them on a pay as you go phone usage. Give them an allowance and when that money is gone, they cannot keep buying ‘minutes’ on their phones.
Look long and hard at all of your current charitable donations. Write a long letter to each of those recipients of your largess and tell them exactly why you will NOT be sending them any funds this year—or again in the near future. Even the heads of such groups need to understand why voting for the dictator, Obama, wasn’t a good idea. Many ‘rich’ people make many charitable donations to avoid paying the taxes. I predict that those donations will drop dramatically in the next 2 years.
I know a couple of men who are laying off literally half of their people and they’re only retaining the best of their clients. They are cherry picking those who are not a hassle and who pay on time. The problem employees and problem clients will be set adrift. The core center of the business will be kept alive. The rest will be amputated.
Does your business pay for ‘key man’ insurance now? It needs to do so. IF anything happens to you, the company will benefit. Look into what other kinds of life insurance are not taxable when you are gone.
Can you open a ‘college fund’ for your grandkids? I think some of that is deposited before taxes. Some states even have a fund that you can buy a college education NOW for their young grandkid at today’s prices. When kid goes to college, it is already paid for. IF they die or don’t wish to do to that college, most of your money is refunded.
Or look into doing something similar with a family trust.
Have a long consult with your best CPA or tax attorney.
You have a right to keep alive what you built. Even if the whole thing is scaled down for awhile.
“I know many people who have built up their businesses and have enjoyed the ability to travel, gamble, or do as they wish with the funds they have.”
And I know people in that same category who enthusiastically voted for Obama because they believed that they could shift the cost of their healthcare on to the taxpayers, thereby keeping more of their income for discretionary spending/personal luxuries.