Umm… so you made a $10,000 payment in December. And, then, ummm… nothing in the last 4 months on the back taxes? And at no point did you get a written agreement (interim agreement) during your “negotiations” that would not be subject to the whims of whatever… say, for example, a staffing change at the state tax authority?

Furthermore, you prioritized vendors over the tax man?

Something like Vox Pop is important to the neighborhood. A community gathering place… I don’t know if Vox Pop can pull it off. Good luck I guess, but…

Sounds like deja vu all over again…

i dunno, it seems to me that paying the vendors ASAP makes complete sense, as they’re the ones who supply the place with what it needs to actually operate and make money?

i never go to voxpop and am not really invested in its future at all, but i am routinely saddened by the vicious contempt it prompts here. for all this talk about what a nice community we live in, ya’ll can be so nasty. debi may not be the best businesswoman in the world, but she’s clearly trying really hard and has gone above and beyond to be transparent with the folks who read this blog despite the constant vitriol. give it a rest.

sarah says:
April 21st, 2010 at 10:07 am

“i dunno, it seems to me that paying the vendors ASAP makes complete sense, as they’re the ones who supply the place with what it needs to actually operate and make money? ”

It’s not an either or. I know that my business is expected to pay our vendors AND our employees AND our taxes.

I don’t have any contempt for this business becuase I recognize that it’s not easy, and sometimes businesses fail for reasons that are outside the control of the people running things. But if they’re not financially stable after this long, maybe they just need to pack it in. Many small businesses, especially restaurants, fail. It happens all the time, but usually with much less drama.

My point about prioritizing the vendors over the Tax Man is simple… vendors want your business and will work with you. They may not be willing to extend you credit until you shape up, but they will sell you all sorts of things on a cash basis. The Tax Man shuts you down (as clearly evidenced here) and has this immediate power and authority unlike any vendor. In other words, there’s lots of wiggle room with vendors. Cash purchases, finding new vendors, making partial ‘appeasement’ payments, etc. If they think you are even a marginally viable company, they will want to keep you business and work with you.

The Tax Man, not so much… expecially when FOUR months pass and the only thing you’ve paid on back taxes in lip service.

Can a lawyer out there explain this to the group?

Vox Pop the corporation is under water. But the coffee shop Vox Pop that Debi has operated for the last couple of years seems to be doing OK. So what is to prevent Vox Pop from closing and Debi opening a new, sustainable coffee shop? Sure the shareholders would be wiped out, but I gather they’ve written off their investment many times already.

Switcheroo> I think that is a good idea. Don’t businesses sometimes shut down and open up under a different name. Can’t this happen with VP? I think just the name is cursed. We need some Fen Shuei (sp) here.

From Hicks resume Vox Pop was a goldmine:

CEO & FOUNDER
VOX POP, INC.
JULY, 2003 – JANUARY, 2009
• Built a fun, community-empowering, fair-trade, live-events-oriented,
coffee-house company. Our 2008 valuation was over $2.6 MM.
• Achieved aggressive annual sales growth, with guerrilla marketing
techniques, great web content, buzz, niche-marketing, and a profitable,
50,000 unit print-run, tabloid newspaper, The New York Megaphone.
• Lead the 2007 acquisition of Long Dash, LLC, and launched sideline
print-on-demand business, “Publish Yourself!”
• Achieved 2008 gross margins of 86% on our main product, fair- trade coffee.
• Earned profitability in three years, with annual earnings of $46K on
sales of $354K. Opened a second location in Manhattan.
• Inspired independent action film “Able Danger” which featured our Vox
Pop Brooklyn café.

Brenda, I actually think that would be very funny place. It could be a cafe version of the Colbert Report.