I am tired of being portrayed as the evil "rich guy" that is screwing the little guy, here are some facts: Health Care Reform and my Premiums Go Up 22% on 20 family policies, Unemployment Benefits Extended and State and Federal Unemployment Taxes Double (twice in 24 months), Federal Mandates to the State causes State Franchise Taxes to raise proportionately, Tax Breaks for Hiring Long-term Unemployed but no Long-term Unemployed are Looking for Work, Property Values Go Down so they raise the rates, Property Values Go Up so they get more taxes. The State gets 8.25% of every dollar of sales which is greater than the profit that I would be satisfied with. The big house and fancy cars comes from being on call 24/7 and working 50-60 hours a week to insure that employees get paid and expenses are met first, I may get what is left, after we finance the new capital equipment necessary to stay in business. $500K+ a year is great but nearly half of that that goes to personal income tax, FICA, Medicare, property tax and sales tax that I pay on all of those nifty toys that I enjoy. With 20 employees totaling nearly a million dollars in salary we collect another $350K in Federal Income Tax, FICA, and Medicare Insurance and donât forget the nearly $70K I have to pay in matching funds for FICA and Medicare that everyone conveniently forgets. All totaled the Federal, State and Local governments make four times what I take home from my risk and labor and yet I have to live within my means, while managing to have zero debt and accumulating a very nice surplus thank you. I am active in the community and every year help raise tens of thousands of dollars for local charities for the truly needy. I am eligible for Social Security but donât take it because it has taken 40 years of hard work to get where I am at and I enjoy the good life too much to walk away, but I try to get a week or two vacation a year and it is nice not to have to punch a clock. All this is not enough, when I am dead and gone they want to take half of everything that I have worked for all of my life instead of letting my family keep the business and keep the employees working, they are happy to kill the goose that lays the golden egg. I donât get a fancy pension that guarantees me the ability to continue my standard of living after 20 years or less, no unions to protect my insurance from being taken away but the self esteem and the pride of accomplishment makes it worth whiled and I pity the lazy SOB that can only @#$% about how tough it is and how somehow I should be contributing more. I will never get the $100M sports contract, $20M book deal or make a $1B with a fancy internet company. If Bill Gates thinks I should pay more taxes, maybe he should give his Microsoft upgrades away free and save me thousands of dollars a years when they conveniently become obsolete, maybe Ben and Jerry should lower their prices a little if they have that much of a surplus or maybe Warren Buffet should return a little of those TARP funds I am sure he managed to enjoy. Wake up America I and my fellow risk takers are not the enemy but are the backbone of this great country, get out of mamby pamby land and quit looking for someone to solve your own problem when the solution is there for the taking if you only got off the couch for more than getting another beer. I am all in favor of helping the helpless but the clueless can take a hike.