Intelligent business owners are in the top 5% of their markets because they think different than the rest of the stupid and broke business owners. Most of the really intelligent business people I know have a different perception when it comes to taxes as well.

In Canada we have a tax called the GST (Goods & Services Tax). It is currently a 6% tax that is paid for most purchases of goods and services. On a $40,000.00 car or $50,000.00 home renovation it can add up to a fair chunk of change.

It is sad to say that there are many people who do try to avoid paying this tax and although I don’t want to get into the moral issues of not paying taxes owed I do want to talk about what it really cost you financially to not pay them.

Being in construction and very often dealing with home owners we have many customers ask us if they pay cash for the work done can we not charge them the GST. On a $50,000.00 renovation that is a $3,000.00 savings for the home owner. If they paid me cash then of course this would also be income that I would not declare and not pay taxes on.

Many of my competitors in this position choose the no tax paying option and justify it with sayings like everyone does it. Have you heard that justification before? This is maybe the reason why so many business don’t make it past the five year mark because they are like lemmings being lead off the cliff to their death.

Let me start by saying here that I love paying taxes in fact the more taxes I pay the happier I am. Let’s face it if you don’t pay taxes that usually mean you didn’t make any money. If you are paying a ton of taxes it a good sign you are bringing in the big bucks.

There are two major problems of business owners who operate in the no tax mindset:

1. They will always being playing small and will never be let into the big leagues. Think about it. Do you think the Disney Corporation or Microsoft is looking for vendors they can pay under the table? This would probably be the quickest way for a large corporation to turn into a small or bankrupt corporation by asking their employees to look for companies they can pay under the table so they don’t have to pay taxes.
2. They won’t have what they think they will have. At anytime the government could come in and audit them and the taxes, fines and maybe jail time would now become due. Is this the way they really want to run their lives?

My business partner last Christmas had to have something notarized by a lawyer. His usual lawyer had left for the holiday season so it left Jeff to look for a new one for this legal matter. He found a local fellow in his downtown core, had the documents notarized and asked the lawyer how much?

The answer this lawyer gave is the reason in my opinion he will never have any great success in his life. Let me first say you want my business partner as a customer because he is great to deal with and will never quibble about price and in fact prefers to pay full price for everything.

So here’s the lawyers answer:

It depends on whether you need a receipt or not. This is a man of education but has no wisdom what so ever. For the sake of a net difference of maybe $1.00 he wrote off a good client and put himself at risk of tax problems and probably had no idea he was even doing it.. That is why it is so important that we wake up and become aware as intelligent business owners. Let’s face it if this lawyer is cutting corners on taxes what else is he cutting corners on and the intelligent business owner knows this.

When you really think about it this lawyer will be left with all the cheap dishonest clients and the good paying clients will go somewhere else. This is all for the sake of a few dollars in tax savings. The calculator I use shows me it is more costly to not pay taxes than to pay them.

I said I would not get into the moral issue on this but let me say the intelligent business owner knows through prosperity consciousness, integrity and proper mindset you will be on an easier path to success.

So if you ever hear a voice coming from you or people around you that is saying everyone does it you might just want to check the company you keep. Remember ‘What You Focus On Grows” so focus on prosperity and abundance not lack and avoidance.