[quote=patientrenter]
I don’t know the IRS rules about how much a company controlled by an owner can declare as income from the company, but I’d be surprised if it’s just whatever amount that produces the least taxes. I’d also be surprised if the rules are observed in the spirit as well as the letter. And I’d continue to be surprised if the IRS actually enforced the rules thoroughly. So, although small business owners may have it tough in lots of other respects, I think it’s fair to say that the freedom they get to lower their taxes on a given amount of income is significantly greater than w2 wage slaves. My hats are off to people who run their own business – really – but my admiration runs out on special tax deals. We all want to pay less taxes as individuals. It becomes unfair when the easy marks pay the greatest %. / end tax rant.

[/quote]

As an S-corp owner and sole shareholder ALL of the income of my company flows through to me as an individual at the end of the tax year via a K-1 and is taxed as income on my 1040, as do all the expenses (including my own salary) which are taken os partially offsetting deductions. I don’t get to choose how much I report…every penny I invoice gets deposited into the company bank account and is reported to the IRS.

Those expenses include a fair amount of things I’m injecting into the economy that you aren’t including accounting services, payroll and insurance.

I also pay 100% of my own healthcare, have to fund my own retirement and if I want a vacation, I have to stop working and lose the revenue from being out of the office. I don’t get sick days or 2 weeks of paid vacation every year.

You want to write off those things? Start a business…or don’t…but don’t bitch and complain about the ‘unfair’ tax breaks business owners get until you’ve been one.