A recent Washington Times article by Mike Whalen, chief executive of Heart of America Restaurants and Inns, should give policymakers pause as they worry about weak job growth while simultaneously piling one tax on top of another onto job-creating companies. Using 2008 numbers, Whalen runs through all the taxes a single 100-room limited service hotel located in Iowa pays:
For starters, we pay property taxes to the tune of about $199,000 annually. Next, there is a 7 percent “pillow tax” that generates about $162,000 annually. Then we pay a 6 percent sales tax on revenue that yields about $124,000 annually. Then we also pay sales tax on things like toilet paper, shampoo, soap, continental breakfast food and amenities and other items that the state of Iowa says are not really part of the product we sell because it says we are selling space. It may come as a surprise to you that toilet paper is not part of what you are buying when you rent a hotel room in Iowa, but the state considers it a gift. Those extra sales taxes come to about $1,800 per year.
Now on to Round 2. This little hotel also pays about $3,000 a year in various licenses and fees. Payroll taxes come to about $60,000. The federal government says the depreciable life of a hotel is 39.5 years, but we refurbish the hotel on a constant basis and pay sales tax on related purchases, such as new carpet, mattresses and bedding, and even paint. Anyone who doesn’t believe we already have a partial value-added tax (VAT) like Europe, isn’t in business. Now, between Round 1 and Round 2, we’re at $548,000 in taxes annually.
So, even if we don’t make a dime of profit, and before we pay the mortgage to the bank or buy new stuff, we pay $548,000 in various taxes, licenses and fees.
As Whalen points out, this tax burden doesn’t include state or federal income taxes. Those taxes are going up. And the alternatives aren’t pretty either:
If I sell the hotel, I’ll pay a hefty capital gains tax of 25 percent, and it’s probably going up. Alternatively, when my wife and I die, I’ll pay another 45 percent if the estate tax returns in 2010. But don’t worry: We have diverted money from productive investments to pay for life insurance to partially pay this bill.
A central question to any economy is, “Where are tomorrow’s jobs going to come from?” A small hotel in the Midwest may not immediately come to mind as part of the answer, but ask folks in Iowa whether those jobs are important. And then ask yourself whether the tax changes just enacted, coupled with those on the horizon, are going to make it easier or harder for Mike and other entrepreneurs to take risks, invest in properties like a limited service hotel, and create jobs. The answer is pretty obvious.
Whither Tax Rates?
Following the release of the S Corporation Association letter on the new 3.8 percent tax and its impact on future tax rates, we got into a back and forth with a reporter over what is the appropriate baseline for measuring future rates.
We used a current law baseline, which is the same baseline the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation use when making their estimates. Under current law, for example, the tax rate on dividends is scheduled to rise from 15 percent today to 39.6 percent next year to nearly 45 percent in 2013 when the new 3.8 percent tax kicks in. That’s three times the current tax!
The reporter, on the other hand, suggested it would be more appropriate to use President Obama’s proposals as the correct baseline. Under the President’s plan, the top rate on dividends would rise to 25 percent in 2013 based on his proposal to tax capital gains and dividends at a 20 percent base rate. Here’s a comparison of the two baselines and their respective rates:
| Top Marginal Tax Rates in Future Years | ||||
| 2010 | 2011 | 2013 | ||
| Current Law* | ||||
| Capital Gains | 15% | 21% | 25% | |
| Dividends | 15% | 41% | 45% | |
| Interest Income | 35% | 41% | 45% | |
| Obama Budget | ||||
| Capital Gains | 15% | 21% | 25% | |
| Dividends | 15% | 21% | 25% | |
| Interest Income | 35% | 41% | 45% | |
| * Current Law and Obama Budget include the phase-out of itemized deductions (Pease) | ||||
Unless you’re actually working for the White House or OMB, using the President’s budget proposals as the baseline requires a certain amount of faith — faith he will press for those proposals, faith the Congress will pay attention, faith other priorities will not get in the way. The President’s budget does call for a statutory rate of 20 percent for 2010 and beyond, but most observers are betting rates of 28 percent or higher are more likely.
But that’s all beside the point. As the chart demonstrates, tax rates on investment are going up sharply regardless of which baseline you use.
More on the Investment Tax and S Corporations
Our Google Alert did its job and alerted us to another website devoted to S corporations — www.scorporationsexplained.com. It appears they too are concerned about the new 3.8 percent tax on investment income and S corporations. As web author Stephen Nelson explains, even S corporation shareholders active in the business may end up paying this tax on some of their S corporation income:
Once a taxpayer’s income exceeds the threshold amount, investment income gets hit with the tax. But it’s important to note that investment income earned inside an S corporation retains its character as the income flows through to investors. This means that even working shareholders may pay the new Medicare tax on the chunk of the S corporation’s profit that occurs because of interest, dividends, capital gains, or rental income earned by the S corporation.
Example: Your share of an S corporation’s profit is $100,000 but only $80,000 of this $100,000 represents profits from the business operation. The remaining $20,000 of profit comes from dividends, interest and capital gains earned on investments held by the S corporation. In this case, no matter whether you’re a working shareholder or a passive shareholder, you’ll pay the Obamacare Medicare tax on the $20,000 of investment income that flows through to you if your income exceeds the threshold amounts.
This result suggests the new tax may be more expansive than it appeared at first glance, especially for mature S corporations that control more than one entity.