Craig Daily Press / Applejacks seized for failure to pay sales taxes

Archive for Thursday, March 6, 2008

Applejacks, 690 Victory Way, Craig.

March 6, 2008

Craig — Lily Overholt, Colorado Department of Revenue tax compliance agent, made the drive up from Grand Junction to Craig on Tuesday and formally seized the Applejacks Bar and Grill property at 690 Victory Way.

The Department of Revenue seized the property because of $4,185 in unpaid state, city and county sales taxes, according to posted signs.

The building is set to go up for auction at 11 a.m. March 20.

Business owners have 10 business days from Tuesday to pay the balance due and reclaim ownership of the property, said Mark Couch, Department of Revenue spokesman.

If they do not pay, the state will auction the property to the highest bidder. At that point, former owners still may bid.

In general terms, Couch said, a business has two and a half to three months to pay overdue taxes. If a business pays quarterly, then it can have up to four or five months.

In all cases, the Department of Revenue makes face-to-face visits before seizing a property.

An Applejacks owner had no comment.

7 March 2008 at 5:44 a.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

taxslave (Anonymous) says…

Shame on this paper for making this a “front page” article. Do you enjoy humiliating others? Businesses do what they can to survive. This article would have been better placed in “Legal Notices” and you know it.

I think we need a new newspaper in town. One with a better spirit about it. One that is not constantly on the attack of others.

7 March 2008 at 9:52 a.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

WileyWapiti (Anonymous) says…

I agree, this is NOT news, this is somebody's personal business.

8 March 2008 at 8:30 a.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

getagrip (Anonymous) says…

this is something that has been public knowledge for a long time and also been a long time coming. If they had paid their bills and their help this wouldn't have happened.

8 March 2008 at 9:55 a.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

harkner (Neal Harkner) says…

I gotta agree with getagrip. Failure to pay taxes, like holding up a liquor store or stealing a car, is a crime, not a personal issue. Plus, it's podunk Craig for crying out loud. Something like this rises to the occasion of “big news.”

8 March 2008 at 4:31 p.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

getagrip (Anonymous) says…

Native…..I don't know ya but……amen!!!! :) lmao

8 March 2008 at 9:29 p.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

grannyrett (Anonymous) says…

native-You hit the nail on the head with that one!
taxslave-chicken little is a child's story. The sky is not falling, the world is not ending, and tax dollars are collected in every city, in every county, and in every state, for our future and for our children's future. Get over it.

13 March 2008 at 5:58 a.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

taxslave (Anonymous) says…

If they had the money they would have paid. It is impossible for business owners to get cash flow this winter because of the credit crisis in the financial markets.

To think for one minute they didn't pay on purpose, suggesting a crime, is absurb. Stand back and see who is next. A failing business in Craig equals less tax revenues for school & hospital. The empty homes around Craig will not benefit the tax base either.

13 March 2008 at 8:36 a.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

WileyWapiti (Anonymous) says…

Now that would be a readable story, something under the guise of the difficulties of supporting a small business in a small town. In my mind, it is sad if a business is not able to pay taxes or more importantly their employees. But in today's day and age when a person or group of people decide to become business owners in a small town where the business fronts change like the seasons, it takes guts and isn't that what America is all about?

My great-grandparents and grandparents ran a family owned grocery store in Loveland until the mid 70's, they purchased land and built a grocery store in Grover, CO and moved lock, stock and barrel up there in about 1977. Grover has a population counting farms somewhere in the 200 people arena, in fact there is not even a gas station there and hasn't been for many years. They ran this store for a dozen years or more, they decided to retire so they sold the store. After roughly a year, the new owner could no longer pay the bills for the store, Grandma and Grandpa took the store back over with no inventory and the man who lost the store had ruined relations with suppliers so badly that they had to reestablish new lines of groceries. My grandfather passed away while I was serving in the 1st Gulf War, grandma had to sell the store shortly after with great loss both personally and financially - but the community stood beside her all the way. It takes guts, a community is built on stepping up to help one another - how do you think we the people of Craig stack up on the “neighborly community”? I wish all small business owners here in Craig the best of luck and try to support them more than I do the larger chains. Successful businesses are good for everybody! Who needs Big Brother to watch you when we have a whole mess of Mrs. Cratchets peeking out their windows.

13 March 2008 at 11:29 a.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

cesmith (Collin Smith) says…

I reported this story and I've been following this thread as new posts come up since the original article ran. I'd like to thank everyone who commented so far.

I agree with the last two posts, that a story from the business' perspective - why they couldn't pay, does that have anything to do with the restaurant business or anything to do with the overall Craig economy - that would have been the better story.

Unfortunately, the business owners decided not to comment.

Sometimes that happens. We decided the story was still newsworthy because we live in a small community, and as taxslave pointed out, the loss could mean the economy is not as strong as suggested by different economic indicators (tax revenue, property values, job market).

There's also the issue of falling tax revenues as businesses close. If we start to see more businesses go out of business, the staff of this paper will report those stories, like this one, fairly and accurately. We strive to give everyone a chance to put their point of view in any article related to them, and, in this case, the business owners did not want to comment.

Thanks,
Collin Smith
875-1794
cesmith@craigdailypress.com

13 March 2008 at 12:36 p.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

harkner (Neal Harkner) says…

taxslave - I can understand why a business would have trouble paying their taxes in the face of declining receipts. It's a sad time when any small business goes belly up.

That being said, if they didn't do it on purpose the only other explanation is that they accidentally did it, which I find extremely hard to believe. Unfortunately when it comes to committing a crime, ignorance of the law is not a viable defense.

13 March 2008 at 5:58 p.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

getagrip (Anonymous) says…

Once again native…you have hit the nail on the head. A restaurant can not sink that much money into a place and then not get qualified help who can turn out a good meal……WITH customer service. I to ate at AJ's twice. Same experience as you. Lots of money and gross food. If you treat the community right….they will treat you right.

13 March 2008 at 6:49 p.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

Globe (Anonymous) says…

Almost all small businesses fail (I think the number is about 80% or something like that). Most under estimate how much cash they need to make them work. From someone who lends to many small businesses it is a huge risk. Most people don't understand margin, cash flow, or payroll taxes. They just see how much someone else is charging for a good or service and think they could really clean up if they made that much, so they go into business. They don't realize all the costs associated with running a business. It is sad to see AppleJacks go out of business, but in my opinion it wasn't a very good business model and it wasn't a very good place to eat, so it is no wonder it went belly up.

13 March 2008 at 11:26 p.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

grannyrett (Anonymous) says…

Native, Getagrip, and Globe-I never ate there, but my brother and my son did. A lot of business is by word of mouth, and after listening to them, there was no way I was going to go eat there. If the owners wouldn't talk to the paper, then the paper will print what it knows, which they did. Thanks, Collin. Good article.