Oklahoma business closings increase as OTC steps up sales tax collection

[dismayed]

I thought this was a really good article by Steve that explains what happened to Maker's and what is going on with the OTC closings of several Bricktown and other local businesses....

In a district that has seen dozens of bars and clubs come and go, Makers Cigar Lounge in Bricktown stood alone in being able to celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2010.

[...]

All of those memories ended last Thanksgiving weekend when Makers was shut down by the Oklahoma Tax Commission, which reported the club's delinquency in remitting sales taxes had topped $250,000. The last trace of Maker's was auctioned two weeks ago.

Full Story at NewsOK.com:

http://www.newsok.com/business-closi...ad_story_title

[Kerry]

It is easy to stay in business when you don't pay taxes.

[Martin]

i especially liked how each mention of 'bricktown hotel and convention center' included a parenthesis indicating that the business is not actually in bricktown. -M

[soonerguru]

It's sad that we lost Las Palomas, arguably the best Mexican place in OKC as a result of this. Sure, they should have kept up with their taxes, but as a customer it's a pretty big loss.

[flintysooner]

delinquency in remitting sales taxes had topped $250,000.

Seems to me they should have been shut down a lot sooner. That's a huge amount of tax. I wonder if they simply had never reported at all or if there is not trigger mechanism to alert someone to high dollar delinquencies or just what. Seems like these stories never ask the kinds of questions that occur to me.

[Kerry]

If they owed the State $250,000 then that means they did $5.5 million in business. If they didn't pay the State then they probably didn't pay the City either meaning they owe the City $213,000. Either the $250,000 figure is wrong or nobody seems to be interested in collecting taxes at either the State or City level.

$213,000 is 37 more feet of streetcar track.

[dismayed]

I am guessing that they owed the money for quite some time, and the tax debt kept accumulating and OTC probably didn't have any enforcement officers to work it and they didn't care all that much during the up economy. Then the economy crashed along with the state's budget, and so they hired a bunch of officers who promptly went out and demanded payment in full. That is what I am inferring from the article anyway. Kind of a strange way for the state to conduct its business if that's in fact what happened.

[OKCTalker]

I was in an industry where sales tax was required on equipment rentals. We heard that paying tax on the purchase of our equipment would result in a sales tax exemption, so after checking with our CPA, we requested a letter to that effect on OTC letterhead. When it came, we dropped the sales tax and told all of our current and prospective clients. It gave us an advantage in a competitive industry.

Never mess with an agency who can put you in jail or out of business - the OTC & IRS can do both.

[OKCMallen]

I didn't even know Maker's closed. That's a big loss for Bricktown, IMO.