#29 | Small Business and Side Hustles feat. Gabriel Dillard & Victor Gichun

Practical Tax with Steve Moskowitz

How are the small farms in the Central Valleydealing with water, the economy, and inflation? Plus, Russian born Victor Gichun reveals what it means to have a side hustle in the US. 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: Well, welcome to practical tax with Chip Franklin. And of course, Steve Moskowitz, our tax attorney extraordinaire. Steve, you look good, good to have you here again. Steve Moskowitz: Thanks Chip. Chip Franklin: Let's talk a little bit, if we can, about the way that we look at food. California produces so much, let me pull a stat out here. Using fewer than 1% of the United States farmland, the Central Valley supplies 8% of US agricultural output and produces 25% of the nation's food including 40% of the nation's fruits, nuts and other cable food. What is the latest from America's bread basket? And I think that's a fair question. Steve Moskowitz: You know Chip, people forget we're so incredibly blessed in this country, where you expect good, fresh food in abundance at a reasonable price. And I know prices are going up with the inflation but still. You look around the world, shortages where you got a long line of people waiting in line for maybe a few products that aren't so hot. And let's face it, if you're physically hungry, what are you going to produce for the world? You have to eat where we go ahead and we say, well, these needs are taken care of, it's easy to go to the store and buy whatever I want. And then I can go ahead and achieve things. And we see it all now, for example, look what's happening with the grain prices because of the Ukraine. Look how that's affecting everybody and it's sort of the old thing where yes, it affects us here in the states, but it's crippling to other areas of the country... Chip Franklin: Right? Steve Moskowitz: Excuse me, other areas of the world. And that has to be taken into effect of what they're doing, not to mention... Wars can be fought over these things, if some country is starving and another country is doing well, that could be the possibility of invasion. Not to mention the fact of the economics, not to mention the facts, the potential investments. So there's an awful lot of things that you take for granted. It's what we were talking about with Spencer, and the weather and food, we take those for granted so we can go out and do greater things. But those basics have to be taken care of first and if they're not, it can be horrible repercussions. Chip Franklin: Well, in the Central Valley represents so many issues that reverberate across the United States and maybe the world. Everything from water to immigration, obviously to transportation, to labor issues. There's a lot there and I find it fascinating because haven't grown up on the East Coast. I had no idea just how significant it was in all of our lives. Joining us right now is Gabriel Dillard. He is editor of the Business Journal from the Central Valley. Hello Gabriel and it's good to have you here with us. Thank you so much for your time. Gabriel Dillard: Hi. Thanks for having me. Chip Franklin: Let's just jump real quick and ask you, how are the Central Valley economies doing right now with inflation and this possibility of a recession right down the road? Gabriel Dillard: Well, we kind of recovered strong since the pandemic.