Latest / Ron Verb / Tuesday 4pm hour 05/05/26
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: WKBN. Well, the good news is our phone lines are
- 0:02Speaker 1: functioning just fine today, unlike yesterday. 69 degrees on this Tuesday,
- 0:06Speaker 1: May 5th. With you till 7 tonight, Ron Verb from
- 0:08Speaker 1: the Kingdom of Mahoning on NewsRadio 570 at WKBN. If
- 0:13Speaker 1: you want to run up the flagpole, see if anybody salutes. 330-729-9977.
- 0:15Speaker 2: 330-729-9977.
- 0:22Speaker 1: We'll get you through to us here this afternoon on
- 0:24Speaker 1: NewsRadio 570 WKBN. I say this quite often to you,
- 0:28Speaker 1: but I mean, if I bend your ear for just
- 0:30Speaker 1: a second, and I will get back to the patient callers,
- 0:34Speaker 1: this is... You cannot operate as a cheerleader. I couldn't
- 0:39Speaker 1: be a cheerleader for Democrats or Republicans. And you just
- 0:44Speaker 1: got to call it as you see it. Make no
- 0:47Speaker 1: mistake about it. If I criticize this war situation or
- 0:50Speaker 1: what the Trump administration is doing, by no means does
- 0:53Speaker 1: it mean for one second that I think the Democrats
- 0:56Speaker 1: are the answer. They're a sheer disaster. Would I be
- 0:59Speaker 1: better off if Kamala Harris was president? Absolutely not. Or
- 1:02Speaker 1: if Joe Biden was still around? Absolutely not. And do
- 1:06Speaker 1: I think that Sherrod Brown should win over John Husted?
- 1:10Speaker 1: Absolutely not. Under no circumstances, and I want to make
- 1:13Speaker 1: this perfectly clear, will I vote for a Democrat? They
- 1:17Speaker 1: are an absolute disaster. Their party is so far left
- 1:22Speaker 1: with their craziness that goes on, I can't support it.
- 1:25Speaker 1: I can't support people that can't define what a woman is,
- 1:29Speaker 1: that thinks men can have babies and tampons in male restrooms,
- 1:33Speaker 1: and just the craziness of not hiring on merit, but
- 1:36Speaker 1: are you gay or transgender? Just the craziness of of
- 1:40Speaker 1: their social agenda, let alone their fiscal agenda, where the
- 1:43Speaker 1: answer always is more taxes and more government programs and
- 1:47Speaker 1: more government spending, saying growing government seems to be the
- 1:51Speaker 1: answer to everything. So I can't vote for a Democrat, period.
- 1:54Speaker 1: I've watched them just lie to people. As you see
- 1:57Speaker 1: them in Virginia, oh, we're not going to raise taxes
- 1:59Speaker 1: on the normal citizen. But lo and behold, property taxes
- 2:03Speaker 1: go up in Virginia, or likewise in New York with Mondami,
- 2:08Speaker 1: with putting property taxes going up to support all these
- 2:14Speaker 1: giveaway programs. I've said this to you a million times.
- 2:17Speaker 1: I don't know how much more you can expect to
- 2:18Speaker 1: take from productive people. I don't care if you're rich.
- 2:22Speaker 1: Or if you're upper middle class or you're lower middle
- 2:25Speaker 1: class or what category you're in. How much more should
- 2:27Speaker 1: a society take and punish productive people? By saying, okay,
- 2:33Speaker 1: you've done something or you've created a business or you've
- 2:36Speaker 1: gone to school or you work hard. And because of that,
- 2:39Speaker 1: we're going to take more of your money so we
- 2:41Speaker 1: can give it to these people who've done none of that. Well,
- 2:44Speaker 1: I don't know how much more you can go along
- 2:47Speaker 1: those lines and continue with that thinking. So that's why
- 2:51Speaker 1: I could never vote for the Democrats, period. I don't
- 2:53Speaker 1: agree with them on their view of police and law
- 2:58Speaker 1: and order. I just could not support them at all.
- 3:03Speaker 1: They're just crazy to me, their entire agenda. So with
- 3:07Speaker 1: that being said... I'll be the first to say, I
- 3:10Speaker 1: think Trump was right on par. He was right on
- 3:13Speaker 1: course with surrounding himself with just these brilliant people. The
- 3:18Speaker 1: people who weren't politicians, but were people that were successful
- 3:21Speaker 1: in private sector trying to say, okay, Biden's gone. Inflation
- 3:25Speaker 1: is high. The economy sucks. How do we fix it?
- 3:29Speaker 1: And by bringing in people that are successful and understand
- 3:32Speaker 1: the private sector economy, not growing jobs by growing governments,
- 3:36Speaker 1: but by growing the private sector, And bringing these people
- 3:40Speaker 1: he surrounded him with, I thought and I think that
- 3:44Speaker 1: they have the country going in the right direction. And
- 3:46Speaker 1: you could see it happening. You could see companies coming
- 3:49Speaker 1: back to America with a favorable business environment, bringing private
- 3:53Speaker 1: sector money here, jobs, trying to bring jobs back here
- 3:57Speaker 1: because of tariffs. I mean, everything was going in the
- 4:01Speaker 1: right direction. Inflation coming down, energy prices down, gasoline down
- 4:06Speaker 1: about $ 2. 50 a gallon, energy prices coming down, drilling booming
- 4:11Speaker 1: because a lot of the regulations they got rid of
- 4:15Speaker 1: that Biden put there because they hated fossil fuels. I
- 4:19Speaker 1: could go on and on. So it was going in
- 4:22Speaker 1: the right direction. And what frustrates me is all of
- 4:28Speaker 1: that's been derailed. I would like to sit here and think, gee,
- 4:33Speaker 1: can you imagine where we would be if this war
- 4:36Speaker 1: never started? Can you imagine where economically being, where your
- 4:41Speaker 1: life would be, where your economics would be if this
- 4:44Speaker 1: never started? It would certainly be in a much better
- 4:50Speaker 1: position and getting even better. But because of this action,
- 5:02Speaker 1: and it should be debated whether or not we should
- 5:04Speaker 1: have been there in the first place and started this
- 5:06Speaker 1: in the first place. I don't know what comes from it,
- 5:10Speaker 1: but it's certainly worth a debate. But it's a done
- 5:13Speaker 1: deal at this point in time. But it certainly is
- 5:15Speaker 1: worth debating as to why now, why some of the
- 5:21Speaker 1: critics that say this is all influenced by Israel and
- 5:24Speaker 1: the lobbyists. And it was in their best interest, not
- 5:28Speaker 1: necessarily in America's best interest. And certainly went against what
- 5:33Speaker 1: Trump was running on as far as getting involved in
- 5:36Speaker 1: these endless wars or regime change. And this kind of
- 5:40Speaker 1: stuff was kind of a 180 from what he ran on.
- 5:43Speaker 1: And that's fair criticism because it is exactly that. So
- 5:48Speaker 1: it's something worth debating at some point. It's not worth
- 5:53Speaker 1: debating as you see the Democrats do it. The Democrats
- 5:56Speaker 1: are almost at a point where they cheer against Trump.
- 5:58Speaker 1: I mean, as they often say, they hate Trump more
- 6:01Speaker 1: than they love America. So even when things you could look,
- 6:06Speaker 1: they hate Trump more than they love America. You could
- 6:08Speaker 1: look at this situation because you've got to deal with
- 6:10Speaker 1: the reality. It's here. And it does seem militarily like
- 6:14Speaker 1: things are going really well, right? That it's been executed.
- 6:16Speaker 1: The military has done an excellent job on it. This
- 6:18Speaker 1: blockade is doing a pretty good job. And certainly Iran
- 6:22Speaker 1: has got some big-time economic issues in their country and
- 6:26Speaker 1: for their people. And so the administration seems to think
- 6:30Speaker 1: it's just a matter of time before they'll be successful
- 6:34Speaker 1: in accomplishing the goal. I mentioned to you yesterday, I
- 6:38Speaker 1: am confident this is taking more time than they ever
- 6:43Speaker 1: thought it would. That they thought that this would be
- 6:46Speaker 1: much easier and take more time. And I can't tell
- 6:49Speaker 1: you how much more time it's going to take Or
- 6:53Speaker 1: even if it would be successful, as I say, you've
- 6:55Speaker 1: got to understand your enemy. And I don't understand them.
- 6:58Speaker 1: I don't understand their culture. I don't understand how much
- 7:01Speaker 1: pain they want to take or not take from looking
- 7:05Speaker 1: at it from their standpoint. As I said, their philosophy
- 7:09Speaker 1: might be, who's the United States to tell us we
- 7:11Speaker 1: can't have a nuclear weapon when Israel can have one?
- 7:13Speaker 1: And Israel to them is the enemy. Who are they
- 7:16Speaker 1: to tell us what we can do as a country
- 7:19Speaker 1: of 93 million people? And a lot of the people
- 7:21Speaker 1: in the country might have their back up to that
- 7:24Speaker 1: as they see their country getting destroyed. They live there.
- 7:27Speaker 1: It's a much different scenario when you live somewhere, and
- 7:30Speaker 1: this is happening, as we as a country learned in Vietnam,
- 7:33Speaker 1: as we as a country learned in Afghanistan, when we
- 7:36Speaker 1: thought many of these things would be easy, but we
- 7:38Speaker 1: don't live there. And we go back to where we live,
- 7:42Speaker 1: and we go home. We don't stay there. And you
- 7:45Speaker 1: can see the flaws that happens. I can sit back
- 7:47Speaker 1: from a historical standpoint and say, well, what did all
- 7:50Speaker 1: of those people die for in Vietnam and get injured
- 7:54Speaker 1: in Vietnam when we pulled out and left? I can
- 7:57Speaker 1: say the same thing years later about Afghanistan. We've just
- 8:02Speaker 1: never been really good with those type of situations in
- 8:08Speaker 1: the history of this country and anywhere in the Middle East.
- 8:12Speaker 1: So that's why many people, including Trump supporters, are very
- 8:14Speaker 1: critical of Trump that he got involved in this in
- 8:16Speaker 1: the first place. Because you've got to understand, can we
- 8:21Speaker 1: crush him economically? Maybe so. Can they give in? Maybe so.
- 8:26Speaker 1: Can they say, we're not going to do that and
- 8:29Speaker 1: have resolve? This is where we live. You're on a timeline.
- 8:31Speaker 1: You've got to get out of here and we'll wait
- 8:33Speaker 1: you out. Maybe that's their philosophy. I don't know the
- 8:36Speaker 1: answer to that. And you don't know the answer to that.
- 8:39Speaker 1: I mean, I acknowledge... Obviously, those people in the White
- 8:42Speaker 1: House know a lot more than Rubio and those folks
- 8:44Speaker 1: than we do. We can only talk and speculate. But
- 8:48Speaker 1: I do know this much. I do know that if
- 8:54Speaker 1: this continues on... If you take a look at what
- 8:57Speaker 1: it's doing economically, I sincerely believe, like when I read
- 8:59Speaker 1: that story the last hour on these gurus talking about recessions,
- 9:06Speaker 1: things that are not looking good for the economy, I
- 9:09Speaker 1: sit back here, and out of sheer concern for all
- 9:12Speaker 1: of you, I don't care if you're Democrats, Republicans, if
- 9:14Speaker 1: you're retired, or if you're working, or whatever your situation
- 9:18Speaker 1: might be, as they say, we're all in this together.
- 9:22Speaker 1: And I get somewhat frustrated with the sense that, hey,
- 9:26Speaker 1: the debt deficit of this country is you're approaching $ 40 trillion.
- 9:32Speaker 1: I mean, it just keeps growing and growing. And it's
- 9:35Speaker 1: like a cancer. And we just keep spending more money
- 9:39Speaker 1: than we're taking in on our tax revenue. Do you
- 9:42Speaker 1: think that's healthy for a country? I just ask you
- 9:44Speaker 1: to give it some consideration. Do you think it's healthy
- 9:47Speaker 1: for a country to be that far in debt? As
- 9:50Speaker 1: I say, if I asked you to write $ 40 trillion
- 9:52Speaker 1: on a paper, you wouldn't know how many zeros to
- 9:54Speaker 1: put after it. It's such a large amount. It's like
- 9:57Speaker 1: it's hard to fathom. But do you think as a
- 10:00Speaker 1: country that's good to continue to grow that? Do you
- 10:03Speaker 1: think as a country that the amount of interest that
- 10:06Speaker 1: you have to pay, our second biggest expenditure, is money wasted?
- 10:14Speaker 1: That we're spending so much money just paying the interest
- 10:16Speaker 1: on this that it's just wasted money? Do you think
- 10:20Speaker 1: that Republicans or Democrats, anybody involved, will ever get spending
- 10:24Speaker 1: in line to reduce this huge debt that we have?
- 10:30Speaker 1: Is there any signs that Democrats or Republicans... are willing
- 10:34Speaker 1: to cut enough and get spending in line so this
- 10:37Speaker 1: country doesn't continue to grow its debt and grow its
- 10:40Speaker 1: interest payments. And at some point, sooner than later, the
- 10:44Speaker 1: crap hits the fan. And then we all pay a
- 10:46Speaker 1: dear price from politicians from years ago, Democrats and Republicans,
- 10:51Speaker 1: who simply didn't give a damn as they continue to
- 10:54Speaker 1: up this debt and deficit. And it continues to go up,
- 10:57Speaker 1: Republicans and Democrats. Well, if you don't think the crap
- 11:00Speaker 1: hit the fan at some point sooner than later, then
- 11:02Speaker 1: you're naive to it. And when it does, it affects everybody.
- 11:06Speaker 1: I don't care if you're on Medicaid or Medicare or
- 11:09Speaker 1: Social Security or what stocks and investments you have. It
- 11:13Speaker 1: becomes things can change overnight in the blink of an eye.
- 11:22Speaker 1: And yet it doesn't get addressed. And yet you could
- 11:25Speaker 1: see when Elon Musk was trying to do it, the
- 11:27Speaker 1: Democrats did everything they could do to get rid of
- 11:29Speaker 1: Elon Musk and destroy him. And they were successful. And
- 11:33Speaker 1: he left. And Doge left. For simply exposing billions of
- 11:39Speaker 1: dollars of wasteful spending to other countries of your tax
- 11:42Speaker 1: dollars and or the debt that this country's taken on.
- 11:46Speaker 1: So if you could see what they did then, what
- 11:50Speaker 1: makes you think they'll ever fix that problem in the future?
- 11:55Speaker 1: But I wouldn't sit and justify, think everything's great if
- 12:00Speaker 1: Biden was running it or Trump is running it. We
- 12:03Speaker 1: have a serious economic problem now, and I hope that
- 12:05Speaker 1: this thing can be resolved sooner than later. I keep hearing,
- 12:09Speaker 1: like last week, as I said, I was hearing, oh,
- 12:11Speaker 1: Iran wants to make a deal. I've been hearing this
- 12:13Speaker 1: for weeks. Iran wants to make a deal. Well, there
- 12:15Speaker 1: is no deal. Iran's not making a deal. And what's
- 12:21Speaker 1: going on? You keep telling me they want to make
- 12:23Speaker 1: a deal. Where is the deal? I'd like to see
- 12:25Speaker 1: a deal made. I'd like to see an end come
- 12:27Speaker 1: to this. But is that going to be... This week,
- 12:34Speaker 1: this month, this year. Stock market's up one day, down
- 12:42Speaker 1: one day. Huge increases, huge declines. That's a big effect
- 12:48Speaker 1: on people's psychology, on their retirement. Many people that are
- 12:52Speaker 1: close to retirement or in retirement, that is a direct
- 12:55Speaker 1: effect on their life. And on people... There's a psychological
- 13:02Speaker 1: effect that that has on people when they look at
- 13:04Speaker 1: that kind of stuff. About half the people are in
- 13:06Speaker 1: a 401k or in the stock market in some fashion
- 13:09Speaker 1: like that. Just as that price on a corner gas
- 13:12Speaker 1: station here that I drive by at 224 and South
- 13:15Speaker 1: Avenue every day has a big influence on your psychology
- 13:19Speaker 1: as well when you see $ 4. 80 or $ 5 a gallon.
- 13:22Speaker 1: Or the sticker shock when you fill it up with
- 13:24Speaker 1: your car up or truck or whatever and you see, wow,
- 13:27Speaker 1: it's $ 90 or it's $ 80. Well, that's $ 80 out of
- 13:31Speaker 1: your pocket, maybe $ 40 more than you'd normally be spending
- 13:36Speaker 1: that you'd spend somewhere else. Well, now you can't do
- 13:39Speaker 1: that because you're paying for gas, so it's a ripple effect.
- 13:46Speaker 1: How do you expect people to make a go of
- 13:47Speaker 1: it when, as I say, electricity rates have doubled, property
- 13:51Speaker 1: taxes continue to go up astronomically, and the re-evaluations are there,
- 13:55Speaker 1: and you have commissioners and moaning in Trumbull County who
- 13:57Speaker 1: don't give a damn to even... give you some degree
- 14:00Speaker 1: of relief with the power that they have. Government continues
- 14:03Speaker 1: to tax you ridiculously with property taxes. You got your
- 14:08Speaker 1: utilities costing you more. You need electricity. You need natural gas.
- 14:12Speaker 1: You need gasoline. And all of them have gone up substantially.
- 14:17Speaker 1: You can see what effect it has on groceries and
- 14:20Speaker 1: just the necessities of life. Well, people only got so
- 14:23Speaker 1: much money to spend. And with all this stuff costing more,
- 14:27Speaker 1: insurance included and what have you, They got to cut somewhere.
- 14:30Speaker 1: And it's not a good scenario. So that's why I
- 14:33Speaker 1: sit back and say, this is not good. This has
- 14:38Speaker 1: got to get resolved. And stop telling me a deal's imminent,
- 14:43Speaker 1: a deal's imminent when it's not. And because you can
- 14:48Speaker 1: have a serious, people are having some serious issues right
- 14:52Speaker 1: now in their economics right now and business as well
- 14:56Speaker 1: right now. And it can get a lot worse. So
- 15:00Speaker 1: it doesn't matter to me if it's Trump as president
- 15:03Speaker 1: or anybody else. You got to look at it realistically.
- 15:06Speaker 1: I hope this thing can get settled. But but when
- 15:11Speaker 1: and how much longer? Who knows? Youngstown's news, weather and
- 15:19Speaker 1: talk station 570 WKBN. And Ron Verbe and you're on
- 15:26Speaker 1: the air.
- 15:26Speaker 3: Hello.
- 15:27Speaker 4: Yes, Ron, I agree with you that these high gas
- 15:31Speaker 4: prices are the result of our involvement in the Persian
- 15:34Speaker 4: Gulf War. But that is a result of taking action.
- 15:40Speaker 4: There's also results when you don't take action. Neville Chamberlain
- 15:44Speaker 4: didn't take action, and we ended up with World War II.
- 15:51Speaker 4: Joe Biden, Barack Obama, they both took appeasement, and we
- 15:55Speaker 4: still got this Persian Gulf War. My fear is that
- 15:59Speaker 4: if we did not give Israel the means to defeat
- 16:03Speaker 4: Iran with conventional weapons, they would be forced to go nuclear.
- 16:09Speaker 4: They have fallout shelters for their whole population.
- 16:13Speaker 1: All right?
- 16:13Speaker 4: They could send off easily three or four nukes, right,
- 16:18Speaker 4: hit Muslim countries as their enemies. All right? And that
- 16:22Speaker 4: radiation would find its way to the United States.
- 16:26Speaker 1: Now..
- 16:27Speaker 4: I don't know if that's something you think is worse
- 16:29Speaker 4: than $ 5 gas. And then after they hit the Persian Gulf,
- 16:33Speaker 4: that Persian Gulf would be shut down for decades until
- 16:37Speaker 4: the radiation cooled off, and then they could go back
- 16:39Speaker 4: and rebuild. So I think Trump is doing a terrific
- 16:42Speaker 4: job here, all right, in preventing a real disaster. It
- 16:48Speaker 4: costs us a little bit, 25% increase in gas, but
- 16:51Speaker 4: it's well worth it.
- 16:54Speaker 1: All right. Thank you. You're on the air.
- 16:56Speaker 4: Hello.
- 16:59Speaker 3: Thank you so much for taking my call.
- 17:01Speaker 1: Go ahead.
- 17:03Speaker 3: Thank you. One of the issues you seem to talk
- 17:06Speaker 3: about quite frequently, and I'm not a regular listener, I'm
- 17:12Speaker 3: a seasonal listener kind of between May and November, but
- 17:17Speaker 3: you keep talking about the property taxes. I had mentioned
- 17:22Speaker 3: this to you before, maybe about a half a year ago.
- 17:26Speaker 3: The issue with the property taxes here in the state
- 17:28Speaker 3: of Ohio uh... and you in this station that you
- 17:34Speaker 3: represent have uh... always promoted the republican no tax people
- 17:40Speaker 3: and they follow through on their promises essentially during the
- 17:45Speaker 3: election of two thousand thirteen when john casich and republicans
- 17:49Speaker 3: took control of the state of ohio what they did
- 17:53Speaker 3: they eliminated all the uh... taxes on business. So Ohio
- 18:00Speaker 3: is only one of five states of the 50 that
- 18:05Speaker 3: does not tax business. So what they did, they lowered
- 18:11Speaker 3: taxes not to the public, low-business jurisdiction, but to the
- 18:15Speaker 3: benefactors that pay for their election. So they eliminated all
- 18:20Speaker 3: the business taxes. They shifted that burden to the property owner. Secondly,
- 18:27Speaker 3: What they did also is they did the $ 200 million.
- 18:32Speaker 1: Well, pause for just a second. Does business still pay
- 18:36Speaker 1: property taxes?
- 18:38Speaker 3: I'm sorry.
- 18:40Speaker 1: I said before you go too far, does a business
- 18:43Speaker 1: pay property taxes just like I do? Like for Home Depot,
- 18:47Speaker 1: do they pay property taxes on that facility?
- 18:50Speaker 3: I believe they pay property. They don't pay tax on
- 18:53Speaker 3: their profit.
- 18:54Speaker 1: Okay, but they do pay property taxes, correct? Stand by.
- 18:58Speaker 1: Just stand by. I'm going to come back to you
- 18:59Speaker 1: in a minute. I'll come right back to him after this.
- 19:02Speaker 3: Dot com.
- 19:03Speaker 1: News Radio 570. WKV's Radio 570. WKVN. 5 for 35
- 19:06Speaker 1: in the afternoon, 69 degrees. This is primary election day.
- 19:15Speaker 1: In Ohio, so make sure you go on out and
- 19:16Speaker 1: cast an informed vote. News Radio 570 WKBN. Polls open until, what, 7?
- 19:21Speaker 1: All right, let me go back to the gentleman who
- 19:24Speaker 1: was saying that when we're talking about the burden of
- 19:28Speaker 1: property taxes that is on homeowners, he was talking about
- 19:33Speaker 1: how businesses got off the hook of paying their fair share.
- 19:37Speaker 1: Go ahead with your thoughts, sir.
- 19:40Speaker 3: Secondly, in the same time, the same time frame, They
- 19:44Speaker 3: also cast this $ 250, 000 cast through. I think I heard
- 19:46Speaker 3: on this station, correct me if I'm wrong, in error,
- 19:51Speaker 3: that you have a side hustle as a landscaper, or
- 19:54Speaker 3: you cut grass. Is that correct?
- 19:55Speaker 1: Oh, we've had a family business for many, many years. Right.
- 19:59Speaker 3: So if you're an LLC, and I'm not going to
- 20:01Speaker 3: ask you if you're an LLC, you can also tell
- 20:04Speaker 3: your listeners if you want to share that information, because
- 20:08Speaker 3: in that same timeframe, The state of Ohio said, if
- 20:12Speaker 3: you declare an LLC, and currently for $ 99 you can
- 20:16Speaker 3: get an LLC certificate to be tax-free, you pay no
- 20:22Speaker 3: tax up to $ 250, 000. So using an example, Wanda and
- 20:27Speaker 3: Willie work at Walmart. They have a $ 70, 000 income combined.
- 20:30Speaker 3: And they pay over $ 2, 000 in taxes, state income tax,
- 20:39Speaker 3: But if you have a side hustle, and you say
- 20:41Speaker 3: you did, you probably, well, I'm not going to ask
- 20:44Speaker 3: you to pay taxes or not if you're an LLC,
- 20:47Speaker 3: but you're exempt up to $ 250, 000. So prior to 2020,
- 20:51Speaker 3: prior to 2025.
- 20:53Speaker 1: Let me just pause you for a minute.
- 20:57Speaker 3: One million people with LLC.
- 20:59Speaker 1: Well, let me pause you for one second. Just let
- 21:01Speaker 1: me pause you for one second, because I can tell
- 21:04Speaker 1: you as somebody who does. just so you can clarify it,
- 21:08Speaker 1: with the CPA. We do nothing but pay taxes on
- 21:13Speaker 1: a regular basis. I mean, the burden of taxes on
- 21:18Speaker 1: a small business is astronomical. I'm here to tell you
- 21:23Speaker 1: right now that many small businesses are failing. You want
- 21:28Speaker 1: to act as though there aren't taxes involved in it.
- 21:32Speaker 1: There's all kinds of taxes involved. That's why you have
- 21:35Speaker 1: accountants to figure it out, and you're constantly sending money
- 21:39Speaker 1: to the governments. It's constantly going out. So all I
- 21:47Speaker 1: can do for you is I recommend the following. Go
- 21:51Speaker 1: get into business and then see how it goes. You
- 21:55Speaker 1: think that you're going to make $ 250, 000 and not pay
- 21:58Speaker 1: tax on it? Do you really believe that? Well, good
- 22:04Speaker 1: luck with all of that. Now, any business gets deductions,
- 22:08Speaker 1: but guess what that deduction is? You've got to go
- 22:10Speaker 1: out and spend $ 70, 000 on buying a piece of equipment
- 22:13Speaker 1: to write it off. Now, you can write it off
- 22:16Speaker 1: in one year, but you still spent $ 70, 000 to buy
- 22:19Speaker 1: a piece of equipment for that business. So employ a person.
- 22:26Speaker 1: And so just employ the person as a business where
- 22:28Speaker 1: you pay half their Social Security tax, where you pay
- 22:30Speaker 1: their unemployment, where you pay workers' comp. Just not employing
- 22:34Speaker 1: a person. Look at any business. Look at what it
- 22:38Speaker 1: costs to employ a person. Not on what it costs
- 22:40Speaker 1: to pay him per hour at $ 15 an hour, $ 20
- 22:43Speaker 1: an hour. Look at all the other additional costs a
- 22:46Speaker 1: business has to pay just to create a job, just
- 22:49Speaker 1: to employ a person. When you talk about business doesn't
- 22:53Speaker 1: have to pay any tax. It's well beyond what you
- 22:56Speaker 1: pay the person on an hourly wage. So be careful
- 23:02Speaker 1: when you act like it's such a great thing that
- 23:06Speaker 1: no one's paying any taxes on it. I don't know
- 23:08Speaker 1: any small business that isn't constantly writing checks to the
- 23:12Speaker 1: federal government or the state on any number of things.
- 23:16Speaker 1: Then on top of it, the state insists that you
- 23:20Speaker 1: collect and file a sales tax. I mean, it's just
- 23:24Speaker 1: constant taxing for a business. I'm here to tell you
- 23:28Speaker 1: many small businesses are teetering right now on staying in
- 23:31Speaker 1: business because inflation-wise, I'm going to tell you what small
- 23:36Speaker 1: businesses tell me. The cost of fuel, the cost of parts,
- 23:40Speaker 1: the cost of repairs, the cost of insurance is putting
- 23:45Speaker 1: them out of business. So I don't know that it's
- 23:48Speaker 1: a gravy train that you want to make it out
- 23:50Speaker 1: to be. Or that you want to act like they're
- 23:54Speaker 1: not paying taxes. Certainly, if you're a sole proprietor or
- 23:59Speaker 1: whatever type LLC you have set up, however you run
- 24:02Speaker 1: your business, there's certainly income tax on it. If you
- 24:06Speaker 1: run it that way, it depends how it's set up.
- 24:10Speaker 1: But needless to say, there is no free lunch. I
- 24:14Speaker 1: don't know where you come up with this nonsense. It's
- 24:17Speaker 1: a very difficult... being in any type of business in
- 24:21Speaker 1: today's environment. I don't care if you're an incorporated, if
- 24:25Speaker 1: you're an LLC, or where you are in it. And
- 24:29Speaker 1: that's why many businesses fail and are failing. But go
- 24:35Speaker 1: ahead with your thoughts. Yeah.
- 24:37Speaker 3: My turn? Thank you so much. Nowhere at the beginning
- 24:41Speaker 3: of what I said that I mentioned about not paying taxes,
- 24:45Speaker 3: I said net income. So I agree with you in toto.
- 24:50Speaker 3: Everything you said previous to what now is subterfuge. Basically,
- 24:54Speaker 3: I agree with you. You pay taxes on everything from
- 24:57Speaker 3: employees to your portion of Social Security. Absolutely. You don't
- 25:02Speaker 3: pay self-tax on your equipment, you person, because if you're yellow.
- 25:07Speaker 1: See, you're tax-exempt. You are not tax-exempt. You very much
- 25:12Speaker 1: do pay sales tax on every piece of equipment that
- 25:15Speaker 1: you buy. If you go buy a piece of equipment,
- 25:20Speaker 1: you are charged sales tax on it. You are not
- 25:23Speaker 1: a non-profit. You are not a church.
- 25:25Speaker 3: I understand that, but all that is deducted when you
- 25:29Speaker 3: get to your net income. I'm talking net income when
- 25:32Speaker 3: you pay all those taxes that you talked about, and
- 25:35Speaker 3: I agree with you. Taxes are there for everybody to
- 25:39Speaker 3: that point. However, I'm Billy the barber, and I have
- 25:43Speaker 3: my single shop, and I've decided to be, I'm going
- 25:46Speaker 3: to be Billy the Barber LLC, and I make $ 70, 000 net.
- 25:51Speaker 3: After all my expenses, I pay the property tax. I
- 25:55Speaker 3: pay whatever tax and the rapporteur to where my shop
- 25:58Speaker 3: is located. My net income is $ 70, 000. I pay no
- 26:03Speaker 3: income tax because the state of Ohio is giving me
- 26:06Speaker 3: that pass-through. So they've shifted that burden. To the landowner,
- 26:12Speaker 3: the homeowner.
- 26:13Speaker 1: Well, you show me a guy. I just say this
- 26:15Speaker 1: to you. You show me a guy making $ 70, 000 a
- 26:19Speaker 1: year in a small business in income that doesn't pay taxes.
- 26:24Speaker 3: I didn't say you didn't pay taxes. I'm saying you
- 26:26Speaker 3: didn't pay state income tax. You're trying to..
- 26:30Speaker 1: Oh, no.
- 26:30Speaker 3: I'm trying to say state income tax.
- 26:34Speaker 1: You know, income tax, I forget what the income tax is.
- 26:38Speaker 1: in the state of Ohio. The income tax in Ohio
- 26:40Speaker 1: has come down, percentage-wise. But then again, you could move
- 26:45Speaker 1: to Florida, and there's no income tax.
- 26:48Speaker 3: Again, you're trying to deviate.
- 26:51Speaker 1: I'm not trying to deviate. I'm saying there is an
- 26:54Speaker 1: income tax. Is there an income tax in the state
- 26:56Speaker 1: of Ohio?
- 26:58Speaker 3: Yes, there is. I'm not an Ohio resident, so I
- 27:01Speaker 3: don't pay the tax. Secondly, I'm a senior, so I
- 27:05Speaker 3: don't pay the tax in the state of Pennsylvania. So
- 27:09Speaker 3: I'm lucky to receive it in that regard. And also,
- 27:12Speaker 3: if I can segue into this too, you keep saying
- 27:15Speaker 3: about the benefit of the addition.
- 27:18Speaker 1: Well, let me tell you what AI says to me.
- 27:21Speaker 1: For the 2026 tax year, Ohio has transitioned to a
- 27:24Speaker 1: flat income tax structure, significantly changing how residents are taxed.
- 27:28Speaker 1: The state now imposes a flat rate of 2.75% on
- 27:31Speaker 1: most taxable income with no state income tax owed on
- 27:35Speaker 1: incomes up to $ 26, 000.
- 27:40Speaker 3: But if you're an LLC, you pay no state income tax.
- 27:43Speaker 1: So if you're over $ 26, 000, there is a 2.75% tax.
- 27:48Speaker 1: A lot of what you're saying on LLCs is just wrong.
- 27:52Speaker 1: I just.
- 27:55Speaker 3: Read the state code in the state of Ohio. So
- 27:59Speaker 3: if you read the bottom of AI, AI may not
- 28:02Speaker 3: be factual information. So I read from the state of
- 28:05Speaker 3: Ohio that there's a nexus.
- 28:08Speaker 1: Well, I don't understand why we don't have a bunch
- 28:10Speaker 1: of rich small business guys.
- 28:12Speaker 3: I'm not talking about rich small business guys. I'm talking
- 28:15Speaker 3: about the fact that the shifting of the burden is
- 28:17Speaker 3: on to the property owner. That's the point I'm trying
- 28:20Speaker 3: to make. And again, you give me subterfuge. You go
- 28:23Speaker 3: around into a circle.
- 28:25Speaker 1: Well, let me ask you this. Let me ask you
- 28:29Speaker 1: this when you want to talk about this. Is it
- 28:31Speaker 1: a possibility that the state, we used to have what's
- 28:34Speaker 1: called a local government fund. Are you familiar with that?
- 28:36Speaker 3: Okay.
- 28:40Speaker 1: Well, that's part of your problem. There was a local government. Well, no,
- 28:43Speaker 1: that is part of your problem. There was what's called
- 28:45Speaker 1: a local government fund that the state would give back
- 28:48Speaker 1: to your community. The state of Ohio has decided the state,
- 28:52Speaker 1: it's going to keep most of that money and not
- 28:54Speaker 1: give it back to your local community. Do you think
- 28:59Speaker 1: because they want that money in Columbus and you're still
- 29:03Speaker 1: paying it, but it's staying in Columbus, your tax dollars,
- 29:07Speaker 1: and it's not going back to your local community. Do
- 29:09Speaker 1: you think that might be why that they are putting
- 29:12Speaker 1: more property taxes on you? Do you think it might
- 29:15Speaker 1: be a possibility that we continue to grow local governments,
- 29:21Speaker 1: that we continue to grow things in local governments and
- 29:25Speaker 1: try to do more things for more people? And that's
- 29:28Speaker 1: certainly debatable whether we should be doing it. No one's
- 29:31Speaker 1: personally responsible for We have all types of levies that
- 29:36Speaker 1: are out there, library levies, senior levies. We're trying to
- 29:39Speaker 1: take care of everything. everybody. So do you think that
- 29:41Speaker 1: might be why property taxes go up?
- 29:44Speaker 3: So you're saying that the state Republican control for this
- 29:49Speaker 3: in 2013 is not giving back the money to the
- 29:51Speaker 3: people that voted them in?
- 29:54Speaker 1: Why do you.
- 29:55Speaker 3: Continue to say elect Republicans because they withhold the money?
- 30:00Speaker 3: I just don't understand that.
- 30:01Speaker 1: Because Democrats want to tax you even more. All Democrats
- 30:07Speaker 1: want to do. Do you think if you tax business
- 30:11Speaker 1: more and tax individuals more, you're better off?
- 30:15Speaker 3: Why do the Democrats want to tax? Specifically, if you.
- 30:19Speaker 1: Want to tax business more from the Democrats and you
- 30:22Speaker 1: want to tax and you want to tax homeowners more,
- 30:25Speaker 1: for example, it's the Republicans, the Republicans that change the
- 30:29Speaker 1: property tax. Dave Thomas has recently made changes, for example,
- 30:33Speaker 1: on your reevaluations, that it's not going to be a
- 30:36Speaker 1: 20 or 30 percent increase on your reevaluation, that it's
- 30:40Speaker 1: going to be capped at the existing rate of inflation
- 30:45Speaker 1: that you figure for Social Security. The Democrats didn't support that.
- 30:49Speaker 1: The Republicans did. So if the Democrats had their way,
- 30:53Speaker 1: when we reevaluate your house and say it's gone up
- 30:57Speaker 1: 20 or 30 percent, if the Democrats had their way,
- 31:00Speaker 1: you would get another astronomical income or a property tax increase.
- 31:06Speaker 1: If the Democrats had their way. Do you think that's
- 31:08Speaker 1: good for the homeowner? You know, you keep talking about
- 31:11Speaker 1: all this stuff the Republicans have done. The Republicans... because
- 31:16Speaker 1: of Dave Thomas and getting it passed, have changed numerous
- 31:21Speaker 1: things when it comes to your property taxes to try
- 31:25Speaker 1: to stop 20% and 30% increases on your property tax.
- 31:29Speaker 1: The Democrats didn't vote for it. They think you should
- 31:33Speaker 1: pay more. So how is that good? And by the way,
- 31:36Speaker 1: even if you're a Democrat and you say, let's tax
- 31:38Speaker 1: business more, is that good for the state of Ohio?
- 31:42Speaker 1: Is that good for business development in the state of Ohio?
- 31:46Speaker 1: Or attracting business? Or keeping business? Is the answer like
- 31:50Speaker 1: they want to do in New York? Or they want
- 31:52Speaker 1: to do in Virginia? Is that healthy for private sector business?
- 31:58Speaker 1: And creating jobs? You tell me.
- 32:02Speaker 3: Are you finished?
- 32:04Speaker 1: I'm waiting. I'm listening.
- 32:07Speaker 3: You were monopolizing the conversation there.
- 32:09Speaker 4: All right.
- 32:10Speaker 3: And I did read what... Representative Thomas and also Mr. Massey,
- 32:16Speaker 3: they were interviewed both in the centennial, the newspaper in
- 32:20Speaker 3: Asheville County. Neither one of them were specific as to
- 32:24Speaker 3: where this shifting of money is going to go. So
- 32:28Speaker 3: all they're doing is taking a pot of money, whatever
- 32:31Speaker 3: it is, this pot, and let's do it as an analogy.
- 32:36Speaker 3: Put it right down the middle. Half is property tax,
- 32:39Speaker 3: half is something else. All David Thomas is doing is
- 32:42Speaker 3: shifting the burden. He's going to say, OK, we won't
- 32:46Speaker 3: collect 30 percent, whatever the pass-through you alluded to, shift
- 32:50Speaker 3: it to a different perspective. And the taxes are going
- 32:53Speaker 3: to go still back on to the property owner because,
- 32:56Speaker 3: number one, there is no tax on business in the
- 33:00Speaker 3: state of Texas.
- 33:02Speaker 1: Ohio.
- 33:03Speaker 3: They eliminated that in 2013. Last year, 2025, the state
- 33:07Speaker 3: of Pennsylvania collected $ 1. 1 billion and gave that money to
- 33:13Speaker 3: the individual school districts in the state of Pennsylvania. Since 2013,
- 33:20Speaker 3: that burden has been on, on, on, on to the
- 33:24Speaker 3: people that own property in the state of Ohio. Yet
- 33:27Speaker 3: you encourage them to vote Republicans to reduce taxes. And
- 33:32Speaker 3: you're right. They reduce taxes for the benefactors, not for
- 33:37Speaker 3: the people that vote for them. That's the issue I'm
- 33:39Speaker 3: trying to bring to light here.
- 33:41Speaker 1: Right. I mean, listen, you're certainly entitled to your opinion.
- 33:47Speaker 1: I go back to say when you say shift the
- 33:49Speaker 1: burden of business does pay property taxes, does it not?
- 33:53Speaker 1: Does Home Depot pay property taxes? Does Walmart pay property taxes?
- 33:57Speaker 3: Absolutely.
- 33:57Speaker 1: Okay, significant ones, right? I mean, they would be significant ones.
- 34:02Speaker 3: So if you want to eliminate property taxes, should Walmart
- 34:05Speaker 3: be entitled to elimination of their property tax?
- 34:10Speaker 1: Say again, please.
- 34:11Speaker 3: Sure. If you want to eliminate, as described, you want
- 34:15Speaker 3: to get 600,000 signatures on the petition to eliminate property taxes.
- 34:22Speaker 3: If that does go through, and in my other opinion
- 34:25Speaker 3: of that, if it does go through, is it Walmart
- 34:28Speaker 3: entitled to the same elimination of property tax?
- 34:31Speaker 1: Yes, and I have a problem with that specifically. But
- 34:36Speaker 1: let me ask you a question. Should we be able
- 34:39Speaker 1: to tax a person out of their home?
- 34:42Speaker 3: That's why we should tax the industry.
- 34:44Speaker 1: No, I'm going to just ask you, let's not just
- 34:48Speaker 1: stir the pot here. I'm asking you, when you're talking
- 34:51Speaker 1: about property taxes... What Dave Thomas did was cap the
- 34:57Speaker 1: increase that you can get. If we get a 20%
- 35:00Speaker 1: or 30% reevaluation, because property in my county is being
- 35:03Speaker 1: reevaluated right now, and instead of getting the 20% and 30% increase,
- 35:08Speaker 1: now that's capped at the rate of inflation. So isn't
- 35:12Speaker 1: that beneficial to property tax owners? Or do you think
- 35:15Speaker 1: we should say, well, we now believe your house is
- 35:18Speaker 1: worth 20% or 30% more, so your taxes are now this?
- 35:23Speaker 3: I'm all for what Dave Thomas is doing, absolutely. I
- 35:25Speaker 3: had a chance to meet him last year, and I
- 35:27Speaker 3: encouraged him by all means.
- 35:29Speaker 1: All right, so that benefits property tax owners, correct? Now,
- 35:34Speaker 1: the debate can be made by people saying, it's my
- 35:38Speaker 1: personal property, you shouldn't be able to tax me out
- 35:41Speaker 1: of my home. That's the argument that's being made because, unfortunately,
- 35:46Speaker 1: that's what's going on with many people. They can no
- 35:49Speaker 1: longer afford their home. Now, that's a discussion. Are you
- 35:54Speaker 1: opposed to the voters in the state of Ohio given
- 35:57Speaker 1: the opportunity to vote on that?
- 36:00Speaker 4: Absolutely not.
- 36:01Speaker 1: Okay, so let him vote on it.
- 36:03Speaker 3: But you keep interrupting me. Let me give a... Allow
- 36:07Speaker 3: me to finish a sentence. So in this $ 600, 000 that Mr.
- 36:12Speaker 3: Massey said is needed for this..
- 36:15Speaker 1: Right, signatures. Stand by, stand by. I'll get back to
- 36:19Speaker 1: you after the break for a few more minutes. Then
- 36:21Speaker 1: we'll move on. Radio 570 WKBN. All right, before I
- 36:25Speaker 1: run out of time, where was that gentleman?
- 36:27Speaker 4: I think..
- 36:29Speaker 1: I was talking to you.
- 36:31Speaker 4: Right.
- 36:32Speaker 3: Also, just the prediction, in the event that there was
- 36:37Speaker 3: adequate signatures for this to be on the ballot and
- 36:41Speaker 3: it is ruled that elimination of property taxes, I would
- 36:45Speaker 3: venture a guess today is, what, the 5th of May,
- 36:47Speaker 3: that it will eventually end up in Supreme Court, and
- 36:53Speaker 3: I think it's 9-9-0 in your state Supreme Court, so
- 36:57Speaker 3: they will find language that.
- 36:58Speaker 1: Would not.
- 37:01Speaker 2: The uh..
- 37:02Speaker 3: The capital of the they would find it uh... that
- 37:05Speaker 3: they would not be adequate to adhere to the constitution
- 37:08Speaker 3: of state of ohio so i welcome and i i
- 37:11Speaker 3: do kind of admire all the people going through all
- 37:14Speaker 3: the signatures however i don't want to be a negative
- 37:18Speaker 3: person but if it does pass your subpoena quarter just
- 37:22Speaker 3: say it's unconstitutional and also let me just finish one
- 37:25Speaker 3: thing you keep saying about the uh... benefits to the seniors,
- 37:30Speaker 3: and I'm the recipient of the additional tax advantage or
- 37:36Speaker 3: the deduction. But to be candid with you, that was
- 37:40Speaker 3: eaten up in the past month and a half by
- 37:42Speaker 3: virtue of the increased amount I pay for gasoline and food,
- 37:46Speaker 3: because it's about 3.5%. And I just wanted to end
- 37:50Speaker 3: with that. And I thank you for taking my call.
- 37:52Speaker 3: And I did talk to you about it half a
- 37:54Speaker 3: year ago, and I mentioned that quote from Dennis Diderot,
- 37:59Speaker 3: the philosopher that talked to Ben Franklin, he said, Ben,
- 38:04Speaker 3: don't do like we did and the monarchs did in
- 38:06Speaker 3: this country. Give tax benefits to the wealthy and tax
- 38:11Speaker 3: the poor because you won't have a republic anymore.
- 38:16Speaker 1: Well, in your dissertation, one thing that you didn't mention
- 38:21Speaker 1: is spending. And part of the problem is spending. All
- 38:26Speaker 1: of the spending that's going on, the growth of governments
- 38:30Speaker 1: and the lack of personal responsibility and the spending that's
- 38:34Speaker 1: going on and the burden that that's putting on people
- 38:37Speaker 1: is astronomical anymore. That's for a future discussion. I appreciate
- 38:41Speaker 1: your time. Good hearing from you again. And nice to
- 38:44Speaker 1: hear from you. We'll pause for the headlines at 5.
- 38:47Speaker 1: News Radio 570. Don't you carry on and run for
- 38:49Speaker 1: interesting guy. Interesting guy. Got a lot of passion. I
- 38:53Speaker 1: kind of like that. We'll pause for the headlines at 5.
- 38:56Speaker 1: Callers in line, stand by. 330-729-9977. All you small business
- 39:00Speaker 1: guys didn't know how easy you had it until you
- 39:03Speaker 1: heard him.
- 39:03Speaker 2: From ABC News, I'm Lindsay Davis, anchor of Prime, streaming
- 39:13Speaker 2: weeknights on ABC News Live. Gasoline prices are now the
- 39:16Speaker 2: highest since July of 2022, four and a half dollars
- 39:20Speaker 2: a gallon for national average connected to Iran, effectively closing
- 39:23Speaker 2: the Strait of Hormuz as analysts, including Patrick DeHaan at GasBuddy.
- 39:27Speaker 1: If the Strait remains closed, you know, into the month
- 39:29Speaker 1: of July. of June, I think by July 4, we'll
- 39:32Speaker 1: be at all-time record highs.
- 39:33Speaker 4: U.S.
- 39:34Speaker 2: Military, under what officials call Project Freedom, is ensuring safe
- 39:37Speaker 2: passage of commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz, but
- 39:40Speaker 2: there's no indication how many shipping companies and their insurance
- 39:43Speaker 2: carriers will take Uncle Sam up on it. Secretary of
- 39:45Speaker 2: State Marco Rubio announcing that the U.S. would forward a
- 39:48Speaker 2: new draft resolution before the U.N. Security Council to mandate
- 39:51Speaker 2: no sea mines, no tolls, no restrictions by Iran in
- 39:54Speaker 2: the straits.
- 39:55Speaker 5: It cannot be that you have these straits and they
- 39:57Speaker 5: blow up any ship that moves and the only ships
- 39:59Speaker 5: they get to go through are theirs. You can't have
- 40:00Speaker 5: a situation in which the straits are close to everyone else,
- 40:03Speaker 5: but they benefit from the piracy.
- 40:05Speaker 1: That can't happen.
- 40:06Speaker 5: That's why the blockade is in place and that's why
- 40:08Speaker 5: these sanctions are crippling them.
- 40:09Speaker 2: The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil fell 3%
- 40:12Speaker 2: to $ 110, although that's still higher than the $ 70 before
- 40:16Speaker 2: the war with Iran. Medical teams have just finished assessing
- 40:19Speaker 2: three patients on board that Dutch cruise ship anchored off
- 40:22Speaker 2: West Africa before evacuation, says the World Health Organization. They
- 40:26Speaker 2: say it's hantavirus, usually spread through inhaling contaminated rodent droppings.
- 40:31Speaker 2: It can take eight weeks for symptoms to appear, says
- 40:34Speaker 2: the WHO's Dr.
- 40:35Speaker 1: Anne Lindstrand.
- 40:36Speaker 2: Eight weeks is a very, very long time to be
- 40:39Speaker 2: in a quarantine. So we will have to see what
- 40:44Speaker 2: the limit of maybe quarantine will be or maybe the testing.
- 40:49Speaker 2: The Spanish Ministry of Health says Spain will host the
- 40:52Speaker 2: vessel in the Canary Islands. Cole Allen, the man accused
- 40:55Speaker 2: of rushing the Secret Service checkpoint at the White House Correspondents' Dinner,
- 40:58Speaker 2: has been indicted by a grand jury. One of the
- 41:01Speaker 2: charges is an attempt to assassinate the president. You're listening
- 41:04Speaker 2: to ABC News.