My own rant in Los Angeles, from about twenty years ago, has to do with the City of Los Angeles Business Property Tax department.

So, this guy shows up at our door one day asking about a business next door. I told him they were away at a conference. He said OK and I started to go back inside. He asked "What's the name of your business?". I told him. He then said "Oh, yeah, I have you here". What?

He then said I owed business property taxes. What? No. We lease 10,000 square feet from the owner of the building, who happens to be the business next door.

The dude: "No, this is business property tax. Which you owe".

Me: Dude, I don't own the building!

The dude: No, no. Sorry. Let me explain. Do you own desks?

Me: Yes.

The dude: Do you own computers?

Me: Yup.

The dude: Chairs, fax machines, copier, tools?

Me: Of course

The dude: Any manufacturing equipment? CNC, etc.

Me: Yes

The dude: Did you make any improvements to your leased facility, like anti-static flooring, painting, any tenant improvements?

Me: Yes, we installed facility-wide anti-static flooring and cleaned-up the place in many ways.

The dude: Well, you have to pay the City of Los Angeles taxes on all of your business property.

Me: WHAT? You mean you want me to pay the City of Los Angeles taxes on our desks, chairs, computers and everything we moved into this building?

The dude: Yes.

Me: [Picking up jaw from the floor] Why?

The dude: It's a privilege tax for doing business in or through the City of Los Angeles.

Me: Privilege what?!!!! We don't even sell stuff to people in the City. We are not a retail outlet.

The dude: You are outside the city but I am sure you have customers in the city or have to travel through the city to visit customers elsewhere in the greater Los Angeles area. Because of that privilege you have to pay this tax.

Me: No way.

The dude: Can I come in so we can do an inventory and assess what you owe.

Me: No fucking way! I didn't say it that way, it was more like: We have ITAR sensitive work in here (had to explain what ITAR was) and can't let anyone without clearance into the facility. Sorry.

I won't bore you with the rest. This was surreal. He showed me bills for companies in the neighborhood. A nearby manufacturer had four million dollars in CNC equipment. The city was screwing them to the wall with this stupid tax.

I often speak out against our government and systems having devolved into something that is actually hurting our cities and nations in multiple ways. Costing jobs. Damaging entire industries. Making people move their businesses to other states or giving up and moving whatever they are able to places like China. When I say these things it isn't because of some ideological position pumped into my brain at university, it's because of having had contact with these people and having had first hand experience at just how stupid, counterproductive and damaging what they do and how they think has become.

In an era where we are fighting for our very economic survival against pressure from China our governments need to be the most business and entrepreneur friendly in the world. Their number one mission should be to help businesses thrive, reduce costs and regulatory burden (while maintaining a proper balance in terms of safety, monopolies, etc.). Instead they are becoming more and more anti-business with every passing year. What do they expect the outcome will be? Prosperity for all?