Yesterday I did our taxes. I had to claim I had
a business last year because I bought some of my own poetry books to give away
and, thus, I made 15 dollars and paid 4 dollars in taxes. Authorhouse (my
self-publishing outfit till now) reported my earnings, as they should. I
charged my business cards to this new Business of Writing, and some paper
products, and so I lost 33 dollars last year in my business as writer.
The six years I edited and published George & Mertie's Place, I had a
business license and did keep track of business expenses, and I had to hire a
taxman to do my taxes because there was also depreciation on a computer and
some software I bought to format the microzine. We never broke even selling
good literature. I'm not going to go into all that business stuff this time
(unless I write a best seller) although I could say that my laptop is used
exclusively for my writing and claim its purchase as a business expense.
I'll tell you one thing that I did learn those
years I published George and Mertie's
Place. Businesses everywhere can sure write off a lot of stuff, and they
get many state tax breaks, yet we hear some business people who are always
complaining their states aren't business friendly. That's about all I'll say
because this is not a political blog.
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