On this episode, we speak with expert on salaries and discuss how small businesses can compete for employees by offering more than just money. Also, an experienced CEO and coach to Fortune 500 companies joins us and discusses guiding individuals and teams to success.

Episode Transcript

Intro:
Welcome to the Practical Tax podcast, with tax attorney Steve Moskowitz. The Practical Tax podcast is brought to you by Moskowitz, LLP, a tax law firm.

Disclaimer:
The information contained in this podcast is based upon information available as of date of recording and will not be updated for changes in law regulation. Any information is not to be considered tax advice or legal advice and does not form an attorney/client relationship. Further, this podcast may be construed as attorney advertising. You should see professional consultation for your individual tax and legal situation.

Chip Franklin:
All right, welcome to another edition of Practical Tax with Tax Attorney Steve Moskowitz. Steve, this is funny. I have a good friend of mine I do a podcast for. He's a former major leaguer and he hates the idea of everybody knowing the salaries that major leaguers make. In fact, there's one story about this kid, Lindor, who now plays for the Mets from Cleveland. And he wanted to make 340 million guaranteed, because it was a million more than another major leaguer he didn't like. And we were just talking about-

Steve Moskowitz:
Who could live on 339?

Chip Franklin:
I know. But in an office place, having salaries and talking about salaries around other people, it doesn't make for a very good, I mean, I'm sure you wouldn't want people going around and comparing salaries in the office.

Steve Moskowitz:
It's something that's very personal. And there's all different motivations and people do different things and do different work. And sometimes somebody may have a difference of opinion as to what their work is worth as opposed to a coworker, as opposed to the company. And again, we were talking about the divorce area. This is a volatile area.

Chip Franklin:
It's very volatile. Well, that brings us to our next guest. And Andi Monet, she's an expert in this area. And she's been talking about salaries and she joins us here on Practical Tax. Andi, hi. Thanks for being here.

Andi Monet:
Thank you. Happy whatever day of the week it is today, gentlemen.

Steve Moskowitz:
It's Friday.

Andi Monet:
Friday.

Chip Franklin:
It's always Friday if you have the right attitude. That's my thought. I wanted to talk to you and Steve and I wanted to can kind of go down the road of salaries as it applies to small businesses trying to recruit top employees and top administrators to come and work for them. It's kind of like I talked about with the sports. In baseball, you have the New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Dodgers. And since there's no real cap, they can get the best players. So the other teams have to battle and show a different reason. What are some of the alternative things that small businesses can do to attract people when they can't match these humongous salaries?

Steve Moskowitz:
Well, first thing I would think of is, what state are you located in? Because if you're in a non-tax state, that can save you a lot of money. California, you're giving away 13.3% of your income, where if you're in Texas, or Florida, or State of Washington, or Nevada, or a number of other places, then the answer is your state income tax is in that state, zero.

Andi Monet:
And that's a really good point, because I lived in California. I was born in California, but I also lived there. But I live in Texas now. And the reason we moved, not me, but actually my ex-husband, who's my best friend, speaking of divorce, we do everything together still.

Chip Franklin:
That's definitely not the norm.

Andi Monet:
It's very unusual, but there's a whole reason for that and I value him.