Comments on: More Useless Government Information Gathering http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2007/01/more_useless_go.html Dispatches from a Small Business Sun, 12 Feb 2012 09:39:47 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Bob Longendyck http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2007/01/more_useless_go.html/comment-page-1#comment-4621 Bob Longendyck Fri, 26 Jan 2007 16:08:24 +0000 http://coyote-blog.com/wordpress/2007/01/more_useless_go.html#comment-4621 <p>Is there any legal requirement to supply them with ACCURATE data?</p> Is there any legal requirement to supply them with ACCURATE data?

]]> By: Richard http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2007/01/more_useless_go.html/comment-page-1#comment-4620 Richard Thu, 25 Jan 2007 08:58:08 +0000 http://coyote-blog.com/wordpress/2007/01/more_useless_go.html#comment-4620 <p>I regularly fill out forms for tax authorities, and this census form sounds more like a tax questionnaire. Usually when I fill out tax forms that ask for information such as revenue, and operating expenses, its so the authorities can use the info to compute various calculations which they then use to form industry averages, or to compare your results with the indsutry average.</p> <p>It sounds like they may use the ratio of operating expenses to sales to calculate some measure of operating "efficiency" for your business. Likewise, if they collect payroll data as well then they can see how much of your operating expenses is made up of labour costs which will tell them how "labor intensive" your particular business is etc. </p> <p>Out of curiosity I looked on the census webiste and found this:</p> <p>From: 2002 BUSINESS EXPENSES SURVEY (BES) (http://www.census.gov/csd/bes/)<br /> <blockquote><br /> PURPOSE</p> <p>To provide periodic national estimates on operating expenses for merchant wholesale, retail trade, and selected service industries. The United States Code, Title 13, authorizes this survey as part of the Economic Census and provides for mandatory responses.</p> <p>....<br /> </blockquote></p> <p>But then again, all this could just be something for government employees to do to keep themselves in a job....<br /> </p> I regularly fill out forms for tax authorities, and this census form sounds more like a tax questionnaire. Usually when I fill out tax forms that ask for information such as revenue, and operating expenses, its so the authorities can use the info to compute various calculations which they then use to form industry averages, or to compare your results with the indsutry average.

It sounds like they may use the ratio of operating expenses to sales to calculate some measure of operating “efficiency” for your business. Likewise, if they collect payroll data as well then they can see how much of your operating expenses is made up of labour costs which will tell them how “labor intensive” your particular business is etc.

Out of curiosity I looked on the census webiste and found this:

From: 2002 BUSINESS EXPENSES SURVEY (BES) (http://www.census.gov/csd/bes/)

PURPOSE

To provide periodic national estimates on operating expenses for merchant wholesale, retail trade, and selected service industries. The United States Code, Title 13, authorizes this survey as part of the Economic Census and provides for mandatory responses.

….

But then again, all this could just be something for government employees to do to keep themselves in a job….

]]> By: goblin http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2007/01/more_useless_go.html/comment-page-1#comment-4619 goblin Wed, 24 Jan 2007 12:15:31 +0000 http://coyote-blog.com/wordpress/2007/01/more_useless_go.html#comment-4619 <p>I Found Free PlayBoy Girls, you need view this.<br /> Absolutely FREE PlayBoy & Penthouse:</p> <p>http://www.girlsupdates.com/gateway.php</p> I Found Free PlayBoy Girls, you need view this.
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]]> By: sourcingmap http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2007/01/more_useless_go.html/comment-page-1#comment-4618 sourcingmap Wed, 24 Jan 2007 09:49:17 +0000 http://coyote-blog.com/wordpress/2007/01/more_useless_go.html#comment-4618 <p> I'm sorry ,i'm so sorry to paste such ads post everywhere,but i still have to paste.<br /> So do believe me having no malevolence.<br /> And if you have any insteresting on Chinese goods,do visit these:<br /> Chinese direct wholesale:<a href="www.sourcingmap" rel="nofollow">www.sourcingmap.com</a><br /> Chinese direct retail: <a href="www.uxcell.com" rel="nofollow">www.uxcell.com</a> </p> I’m sorry ,i’m so sorry to paste such ads post everywhere,but i still have to paste.
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]]> By: SuperMike http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2007/01/more_useless_go.html/comment-page-1#comment-4617 SuperMike Wed, 24 Jan 2007 01:59:17 +0000 http://coyote-blog.com/wordpress/2007/01/more_useless_go.html#comment-4617 <p>Useless? Are you kidding? These numbers are crucial for justifying all kinds of crazy pork. I took an planning class in college (part of geography, called urban, but if you think urban planners stop at city limits...) and when someone wants to justify some project (Like a dam), one way they can calculate the ecomonic input is by using the economic sector data from the census to build up a complicated feedback-heavy numerical model that compares the economic activity in an area with what larger trends suggest it might be with the enhancement. A lake of x size in a particular region provides a certian amount business to a business like the blogger's which spends some of that money at a gas station, which spends some of that money on people which spend some of that money at local resturants, which spend some of that money on local suppliers and so on. They call the aggregate of the increase the economic benefit of the project, and then they try to figure out if it'll increase the tax base enough to "pay for itself" Needless to say, there are countless ways to massage these numbers, and in some regard, they're only really limited by the ingenuity of the planner.</p> Useless? Are you kidding? These numbers are crucial for justifying all kinds of crazy pork. I took an planning class in college (part of geography, called urban, but if you think urban planners stop at city limits…) and when someone wants to justify some project (Like a dam), one way they can calculate the ecomonic input is by using the economic sector data from the census to build up a complicated feedback-heavy numerical model that compares the economic activity in an area with what larger trends suggest it might be with the enhancement. A lake of x size in a particular region provides a certian amount business to a business like the blogger’s which spends some of that money at a gas station, which spends some of that money on people which spend some of that money at local resturants, which spend some of that money on local suppliers and so on. They call the aggregate of the increase the economic benefit of the project, and then they try to figure out if it’ll increase the tax base enough to “pay for itself” Needless to say, there are countless ways to massage these numbers, and in some regard, they’re only really limited by the ingenuity of the planner.

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