Are corporations people?

Are Corporations People? When I first heard this story it was on an ultra-hippy liberal facebook friend's wall. My first (and lasting) reaction was, "Of course corporations are people." Since that point I have read many articles on the matter and have seen several snappy retorts attempting to discredit Mr. Romney for his opinion/observation. Most people are staunch in their declaration that corporations are not people. But then they continue on about the evil corporations and how they aren't doing their part blah, blah, blah...
So, armed with my laptop and good old Google I went on an information hunt. Looking at Webster's definition(s) I found that by definition corporations are in fact a group of people or a "person":

1:a : a group of merchants or traders united in a trade guild b : the municipal authorities of a town or city

2: a body formed and authorized by law to act as a single person although constituted by one or more persons and legally endowed with various rights and duties including the capacity of succession

3: an association of employers and employees in a basic industry or of members of a profession organized as an organ of political representation in a corporative state
Reference http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/corporation
All of that aside I used my personal and business experience to come to the conclusion that corporations are people. When we started our business we were a C-corporation. This is probably the least 'people' oriented business I can imagine. The corporation is treated as it's own entity (person) and it is taxed, then taxes are paid on dividends and payroll through shareholders personal taxes. You get to tax the business separately with a C-corp. However, these corporations are becoming a dying breed. We were participant to that process.
We own two corporations currently. One is our retail store which is an S-corporation and the other is a real estate holding company which is an LLC. When we upgraded our accountant we upgraded our corporate structure to an S-corp. The biggest benefit to the S-corp is that the business income flows through our personal taxes eliminating the dual taxation. Our LLC company also flows through our individual (personal) tax return.
I could make a philosophical argument about how my business could not survive without me, my husband, or our employees (all people). I could say that all of the people in the company benefit from the business (are employed, get paid, IRA's, insurance, holidays, etc.) and that if the business paid more taxes (a la Obama) we would (and do) have fewer employees and the people that remain will have to settle for less if big brother takes more. This is the type of argument that seems to degrade most quickly, such as I am biased because I am the evil corporate owner, I just don't want to do my share, I'm the greedy one... never mind that it isn't just our livelihood on the line, it's also all of our employees. But, it is my house that is on the line as well as all of my other savings. My husband and I are the last to take a bonus in good years and the first to not get a paycheck if need be... but I'll stick to the simple tax facts.
I read that S-corporations are the largest growing corporation type and that much of this growth occurred in the 2000's by companies that converted (like we did). By 2006 over 66% of corporations were S-corporations. After five more years I'll be willing to bet that number has grown even higher. This means that those corporations are taxed through the shareholders personal tax returns. LLC's and C-corporations make up the remaining and LLC's are also taxed through personal tax returns of the owner's.
The bottom line is that both philosophically and with regard to taxation WE are our businesses. Unless you would like to try to make the argument that we are not people...

The Big Move

Welcome to Brookline, NH

We bought the business property in the summer of 2009. We quickly did needed repairs to wiring and walls so that we could move our warehouse over by summer's end. By fall we had paved the new parking lot and put a fence up for the fuel and put in a turn around for the tractor trailers. It was working out beautifully as a warehouse. Our storefront was still at the location it had been at for the last nearly ten years. We had one more year on our lease so we had to make a decision. Should we stay or should we go to the new property? Cost-wise it made sense to be located in one building, but there were a lot of unknowns. The traffic count was lower for one big thing. We would also be on a lesser commuting path instead of a main road, a road which doubled as one of the busiest shopping roads to add to the conundrum.
The cost of renovating the property was also a consideration. We had already gone over budget with the initial repairs as we did not know that the infrastructure was so messed up prior to moving in. The site planning, site work, and paving were also more than we anticipated. We really thought we did our homework but boy were we wrong! Our sales were also on the decline. Partly a symptom of the new economy and the general mood of the country, but also our industry had a few black eyes from 2008 and 2009. Moving was a big risk!
We did a survey and got enough of a positive or neutral responses that by December of 2009 we decided to move. We had our contractor start work in the spring, after the pipes froze and we had the future showroom side of the building flood, of course. :-( We saved when we could and did it ourselves and borrowed the rest of the necessary funds from our line of credit and a personal loan so we could move in during the month of June. We built displays and walls to get started but planned to finish the center display, the insert display, and the wood stove section as we could.
We had our main fears about moving alleviated pretty quickly when we had a fall that was much better (percentage-wise) than the first half of the year had been in our old location. We were also finally starting to see the savings of having one building instead of two: one insurance bill, one rent payment, one utility bill, lower gas and propane costs...
We vented some displays to heat the building and installed a furnace for the warehouse.
One big bonus for the new building is that we designed and had a break-room/office built at the back of the shop. This way the guys could eat their lunch in peace and we could have our meetings uninterrupted. They also had a place to put their things and a place to get away.
One thing I think they were even more excited about (I know I was and I don't even work on stoves!) is that we finally had a workshop area where the tools could live and stoves being cleaned or repaired could reside.
We have a pretty happy group now who work well together and are doing a great job :-) We had just a couple changes on the employee front. We had fired a liar/thief late in 2009. The other guys were instrumental in helping to catch him. We also let our first employee go in early 2011. He was a difficult person who never cared for me much and I also think he was burned out. The guys were tired of his complaining and unwillingness to work with the group, and his assets were being overshadowed by his liabilities. The good news is that we were able to hire back an employee that worked with us for a couple of years about five years ago. He is a good fit.
Improvements continue. We are currently painting the building. It really needs to be re-sided but the finances just aren't there yet. So we will paint and hope it will buy us five or so years until we can do it correctly. We still have the main display to do and wood stoves to vent, but we did get the insert display in. Like my fake brick?
Other than that it seems like a good move and we don't regret it for a moment!

Fall in New England

Where does the time go? As I watch the leaves falling outside my window I realize that another year is coming to a close. It goes by faster each year!

Most of our time and money went into the business this year but we did replace a rotting and leaky slider with windows at home. This has been a hard year. We were distracted early by renovating and moving our business but our sales have continued to slide down as a result of the warm weather and soft economy.Outside our new shop

Inside

We did a little traveling this year but not much.


We lost our beloved Polar this summer not even a year after losing our feline friend Zoicite last fall. One day in late July he stopped eating dry food. It was such a bloody hot summer we didn't think anything of it. Within a week he was only eating one meal a day, then the next week only a bite or two. He spent a week in the vet hospital on fluids and for testing. He had liver failure. We took him home, made him comfortable as possible, and loved him and lavished attention on him until he passed away in his sleep a little over a week later. Heart-breaking. Still fighting back tears...

We did have some new additions to the family as well. We got new chicks from My Pet Chicken this spring, and Cuddles hatched three eggs this year! Our first hatch was a frizzle leghorn mix named Flower. He ended up being a rooster so his name was upgraded to Flower Power. Her second was a Buff/Leghorn mix and was given away to someone who wanted to use him for breeding. The third is a cochin frizzle mix. Baby Spice, who is two months old is most likely a hen... I'll get back to you on this though. Cuddles does not have the best track record for laying hens instead of roosters!
New silkies. They are adorable and sweet! Tiffani, Milli, and Iffi
Baby Spice hatched with her sister Pumpkin. Pumpkin died within a couple days :-(

We are also working with a dog rescue to try to adopt a new pup. More on that later hopefully! My brother has started dating Julie, a wonderful energetic vibrant person and we have enjoyed her and Harrison's addition to our family. Art's parents are doing better this year. We had a mini-scare with Bud when he had a blocked carotid artery and needed surgery, but he is on the mend.

Hotly Cold and Coolly Hot

After all our employees had done to step up after the firing of the Ex-Psycho-employee we decided to take everyone on our annual ski trip after all. We came across a great deal to stay up in Bartlett and got free ski passes along with our stay. The only trick was that we had to stay two nights. So we did one night with our employees, then Art and I invited up our friends to stay the second night. Art got to "Ski FREE" on his birthday at wildcat the second day so it was a great bargain! The best part was that I had a shopping buddy! In past years I would do puzzles, read, watch movies, and shop the outlets to entertain myself while the guys were skiing. This year it was quite nice to have a friend along. We shopped a little, stopped for lunch and a beverage, then shopped a little more! Their kids loved the pool at the resort, too. I enjoyed the sauna. The condo had two bedrooms, a loft with four beds, a living room dining room, and kitchen. Very roomy! So sad they pulled the wood stove out of there... probably a lawsuit killed that one year's ago. One of our employee's brought his acoustic guitar and some song sheets. We sang acoustic karaoke or more group singing as we knew the words. It was good to get away from work and just hang out with the guys.
After one day at home I headed South for my next adventure. Surprising my Mom for her 60th birthday. Note that she and Art (and nephew Jack) have the same birthday. Since we were up skiing I did not even call her on her actual birthday. They were celebrating her's and Jack's birthday before heading back to Mexico for the winter so I thought she would be distracted. I also didn't want to blow my surprise! So I flew into Mazatlan one half hour before she arrived. So when she got off the plane I was the first person she saw! She was shocked, she cried, then started wagging her finger in my face saying how mad she was that I didn't even call for her birthday! Too funny!
To add to the fun my Aunt and Uncle moved down to Mazatlan a couple of years ago.This was the first time I was down there while they were because they had only been partially retired and not spent most of the winter down there before. My cousin her husband and daughter were also there visiting. It was wonderful catching up with everyone! We went to the Tequila factory, boogie boarded at the beach, and took a great sail around on the Patricia Belle, a local schooner.
We also had a birthday/Valentine's party. Art stayed home and held down the fort. I do wish he would have come with but it was nice to know that the animals were fine and the house was being watched during the coldest month!

It was nice to see all of my parents neighbors down there. Sandra was so helpful when my parents moved down there, and she is an incredible cook!
She made Chile rellenos con camarones for me. Heavenly! I also get a kick out of how most of us understand Spanish enough to know what the other is saying and they understand enough English to know what we are saying but we don't speak using that much Spanish and they don't speak using that much English. Must be hilarious to listen too! Travel season has begun well!

Brookline is moving along well. The wiring has all been replaced on the "shop" side of the building. They have the office/break room and bathroom walls up and should be ready to sheetrock this coming week.
One of our guys (goes by the name of 'Not Me') opened a virus on our computer at the store. This is a repeated offense and why I keep the important software on the other computers there! However, since we are running an old version of XP there is no chance we can find another machine to match... So I spent an hour and a half on an online chat at Apple, then Art and I spent the afternoon down at the Apple store yesterday. It is going to cost less to get an Apple server, and three new Apple computers (using our monitors) than it would be to update the three PC's we use now. Our guys also hate our Point Of Sale system. It is still full of bugs and glitches even though it is five years and even more versions into it. We were faced with upgrading that POS again (aptly named) with the hopes that it would run better at the steep tag of $899 per machine. Mac has a similar program- NEW- for only $399 a machine! What a difference! It has been suggested that it won't be the crappy work around the problems and bugs kind of software and I find that pretty easy to believe.

Home Alone Blues

"I'm all alooone, there's nobody here beside me..." I dropped hubby off at the airport last Thursday. I had so much on my plate with end of the year taxes for the biz, end of the year reports for the town, a new payroll system, software updates, etc. etc. etc. that I was looking forward to having time to get it all done!!
Right after I dropped him off I headed to the town where I spent five hours before I packed up and headed home to my office to work more. I was able to finish the main report by 7:00 that night! I was so excited.
The next morning as I was having some morning Dunkies I started to get a taste of the downside of one adult in the house. There was a dog next to me squeaking away, a bird in the other room squawking for food/love, and three cats staring at me... boring holes into me is more like it.
So I patted everyone, fed everyone and then locked myself away in the office for the morning. Later that I day I also received my late xmas present. An HP Mini Netbook. Add that setup to the list and off my afternoon runs... I got our final reconcile done and some reports pulled for end of year taxes. I finished the job I started days ago of filling the bulk bin for the boiler, and take out all the trash around the house and basement. I also made up a floor plan layout for the new shop. I was pretty excited about that... although I think a move in date of June 1 is going to be a BIG challenge! After the pressure tank failed (or froze) and flooded the shop side of the property we started cleaning it out and filling the dumpster.
In just two days we have it mostly cleared out. One more day to take the walls down then Wil will come in to run electrical. Then we start dry-walling.

I am so excited that we are moving though. To finally be in one location instead of wondering (or having to go see) if something is at the other building, not to mention less rent, utilities, gas, time... I digress.

I spent the evening knitting a scarf that I have had on my roster since last year. I also pulled out a pattern for a beginner's sweater that came in my new knitting magazine. This year I finished a hat and scarf for myself, a hat with ear flaps for hubby, and another hat for me. I started working on a sock project with my SIL, but am stuck at the heal. So that will have to wait until we can catch up with each other again. I got some great yarn when we were in Ireland this past summer for a sweater for Art. While he would love for me to jump right in and knit a sweater for him, I thought I should start with an easy sweater for me so I can work the bugs out and figure out what I am doing with local (coupon purchased) yarn from Michael's before I use the fancy Irish wool yarn.

Today is day three. Thalia kitten woke me up at five am. She stands on the headboard (on the other side of the bed of course) and scratches at the wall. Whatever. I spend fifteen minutes shooing her away, but in that time she wakes the dog. Fast forward the fifteen minutes and now two cats are tearing around the room chasing each other, and the dog is breathing on me and squeaking. My Blizzie was also awakened so she crawled out of the blanket nest she had made herself next to me and now just sits above me on the headboard with a disapproving look. So I get up, throw the dog out on his chain, feed the monsters (and my Blizz), then start coffee. I cleaned up a bit, started some laundry, cleaned the cat boxes, vacuumed upstairs, fed birds and chickens, and tidied papers. In about an hour I plan to head down the hill where I will go to Target to get some cutting boards since the old ones look like they were put in a blender, get more yarn for my sweater with my Michael's 40% off coupon, and head to the shop.
Since we fired the loser thief last month MJ has taken over service. I get to try to help decode the loser's system and figure out what he did/didn't do/needs to be redone. Then I get to do a long awaited (but will be hated anyway) software update. The database runs SO much faster and cleaner, but you lose all sales data from the past. Pick your battle. They want clean and fast so they are going to lose some...
It has been a ridiculously warm and dry January. The sun has been shining which has been lovely but the snow is sad. I think we had one maybe two storms that resulted in all of three inches of snow. At this point the ground is exposed on roads and paths. Of course, there is a storm coming in tonight and tomorrow that will dump 6-12 inches on us (which I would normally love!) just in time for me to have to drive to the airport to pick hubby up. Going to take it slow. I will make a stop in Milford to transfer some $$$ for the town, then stop in Bedford for gas, then depending on how I do I will try to make a run for the airport. Stressed out about it already!
It will be nice to have hubby home again. I am glad to have all this work behind me, and now we can really ramp up activity at the new shop, and plan for some upcoming trips! :-)

Where all the time and $$$ goes!