I was deep into those beginning of the year projects you have to do–you know, rounding up all the paperwork to bring into your tax guru to try and eek out some sort of refund.

That appointment is next week, so I was sorting and adding up figures and such, when I came across my receipt for last year’s state excise tax. Oh, yeah. That little annual annoyance where I usually have to aim $1400 or more down to Olympia. It’s one of the blessings of having your own business.

So, looking at last year’s receipt, it had the website on it. I headed there, began the process of filing and paying the piper when I noticed I had a couple of unread messages. Oh, great. NOW what am I forgetting?

I opened one, which was just a re-send of the previous note sent to me and it looked like this:

Wait. What?

If I made less than $125K for the year, I no longer have to pay the state excise tax? Oh, that can’t be right.

So, I called the toll-free number and was instantly connected with a woman who asked, “How may I help you?”

I explained my situation, making absolutely sure I was understanding this whole thing correctly. She began reading something she apparently had to read before, which was a condensed version of the above letter.

In other words, I didn’t need to pay anything!!

I commented to her that I’d like to take back everything I’ve been saying about those lawmakers down in Olympia, she laughed and then remarked, “Yeah, well it was long overdue.”

Eliminating a tax to try and help small business owners? That’s crazy talk! But it was true.

I’m still stunned they’re giving up that source of revenue, but I guess I’ll live with it.

But for the record, I’m not taking back everything I’ve been saying about the lawmakers in Olympia. Maybe a couple of things. OK, one.

But thank you very much.

Tim Hunter