#1941 - Bridget Phetasy

Joe Rogan (0:03)

The Joe Rogan Experience.

Joe Rogan (0:15)

What's happening, my friend?

Bridget Phetasy (0:16)

I'm back.

Joe Rogan (0:17)

You're back.

Bridget Phetasy (0:18)

With the baby again. Just moming and working.

Joe Rogan (0:22)

Is you getting any sleep?

Bridget Phetasy (0:23)

I don't look like it.

I'm like, how do I get rid of these circles under my eyes? Not really, because I try to work, and right in particular after she goes down for, she's sleeping, which is great. It's weird how like, is she sleeping? That's the, you know, everybody asks you that question when you have a kid.

Joe Rogan (0:42)

Yeah, well, once you have kids, you realize, like, for the first X amount of days or years, like, you're just in a fog where you just, you don't know what's going on, because you're just, that mommy brain thing's real.

Bridget Phetasy (0:56)

It is, and it's the sleep deprivation, like, I think you pull your head out of your butt, like, in different waves, so I feel like I just came to a bit, and I'm like, what's going on with my business? Like, I ended up having to pay this ridiculous, I can't even get into it, because I'll, like, burn the whole thing down, but it was a ridiculous tax that you're generally exempt from if you file by a date, which, why do you even have this rule that punishes small businesses who are usually drowning, and it's easy to miss this stupid arbitrary date? And so the city of LA came after me, and they basically shook me down for, like, $4,000. And I was like, this shit keeps me up at night, Joe.

I just can't tell.

Joe Rogan (1:40)

Is it just an LA thing?

Bridget Phetasy (1:41)

It's the city of LA thing, yeah. They have their own business tax renewal. You have to get a license that you renew, even if you make under $300,000 as, like, an artist, you're exempt from this, which I'm exempt from this. And so I'm like, why do I have to pay? So then it's penalties and fee? I cannot, I can't tell you. I can't tell you how this, it, like, I will stare at my ceiling in bed just enraged. And it's most, as a business owner, I'm like, I've got it, the buck has to stop with me. I want to blame everyone. And sure, this is a bullshit, bullshit law. And I, maybe my tax guy should have been more aware of this.

And I love him, though, I'm not blaming him either. And it has to stop with me. And so this is one of those things that probably just fell through the cracks because I had a baby and...

Joe Rogan (2:34)

So the tax guy didn't know about it?

Bridget Phetasy (2:37)

He did, but so I'm, I'm not exactly sure why, why we thought we were filing for that exemption in time, because, and it might be because they were sending me, because I was a, before I incorporated, I was a just self-employed. And so I had to file as a self-employed worker. They kept sending me a little card to renew my license, but it was to me personally. So he very well could have thought that we were renewing it, but it wasn't for the corporation, it was for me personally.

It's like such a, I can't, I'm not a rich person, you know, that's like, and it's money that could go, I was saying to my husband, like, I'd rather go give that $4,000 to like a homeless person under the fricking highway than the city of LA, which is just gonna set it on fire.

Joe Rogan (3:30)

The way they shake things down. So all the different taxes and regulations.

Bridget Phetasy (3:36)

It's a mafia.

Joe Rogan (3:36)

You don't realize how bad it is until you get away from it.

Bridget Phetasy (3:39)

It's a legalized mafia though. My friend has been out of California for five years and they're coming after him for back taxes.

And they'll just take it out of your, they'll like garnish your wages.

Joe Rogan (3:52)

Well, did you see the thing that they were trying to do where they were trying to tax people once they leave California?

Bridget Phetasy (3:58)

They were trying to pass out a lot.

Joe Rogan (4:00)

Yeah, which is so wild.

Even if you left, you still owe us money that you would have spent if you were here, but you're not here, but so what? We want the money.

Bridget Phetasy (4:10)

Because it's a mafia.

Joe Rogan (4:12)

It's just slimy. It's just bureaucracy.