Missourian Family Fined $90,000 for Doing Business without a License

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has penalized the Dollarhite Family of Missouri by imposing over $90,000 in fines for selling rabbits without a license. Their intention being, to show others what the possible consequences could be for doing business without a license.

The Dollarhites originally started raising bunnies as a way of teaching their teenage son about hard work, responsibility and the value of money. They would sell the rabbits to neighbors and friends for a small fee of $10 - $12. When their son got tired of taking care of the pets, the Dollarhites bought the rabbitry from him for $200.

At that point word of mouth about the ‘Dollarvalue Rabbitry’ had spread and Silver Dollar City and Petland began purchasing bunnies from the Dollarhites. The USDA learned about the Dollarhites when inspecting the animals they raised at Silver Dollar City.

After visiting the Dollarhites and examining their rabbitry, the USDA sent the Dollarhites a certified letter stating that they broke the law by doing business without a license, (9 C.F.R. § 2.1 (a) (1): Selling more than $500 worth of rabbits in a calendar year,) and must pay $90,643 in penalties.

The letter went on to say, “APHIS laws and regulations provide for administrative and criminal penalties to enforce these regulatory requirements, including civil penalties of up to $10,000 for each of the violations documented in our investigation.”

According to Breitbart, “If the threat contained in the letter is to be believed, the family could be fined as much as $10,000 per rabbit beyond the first 50 bunnies that netted the family its first $500. Do the math (390 rabbits x $10,000 each) and, if they don’t pay the initial fine, they could face additional fines totaling $3.9 million.”

John Dollarhite claims that he never knew he needed a license to operate his rabbitry and he’s shocked how something that started out as a family hobby turned into a federal case.

In order to avoid the mess the Dollarhites are dealing with now, make sure to get your business licensed by visiting http://www.businesslicenses.com/.

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