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August 02, 2004
Small Business Priorities
NFIB released its report on small business priorities and problems. Here is the list of what they found in their survey:
"The 10 most severe problems for small-business owners in order are:
* Cost of health insurance
* Cost and availability of liability insurance
* Workers' compensation
* Cost of natural gas, propane, gasoline, diesel, fuel oil
* Federal taxes on business income
* Property taxes (real, personal, or inventory)
* Cash flow
* State taxes on business income
* Unreasonable government regulations
* Electricity costs (rates)
Health insurance costs were a "critical" issue for 65.6 percent of respondents, the highest percentage for any problem in the survey's 22-year history."
The full report can be downloaded from the NFIB site.
Posted August 2, 2004 01:07 PM
Comments
I'm sure you are tired of hearing about my father's business, but it's always the first thing that comes to mind when I think about small business owners. My mother keeps a semi full time job (She really doesn't "work" that much), and the main reason is for the benefits/insurance. I always heard them talk about her benefits, etc., but it makes much more sense to me now that I have seen this list with insurance being the largest issue in history.
In addition, I was suprised to see self-employment tax left off the list, unless its all included in Federal Taxes. After working at a small firm who does mainly large personal and small business tax returns, self-employment tax was always their biggest concern. Quarterly payments seem to "sneak up on" business owners, and as a result, they tend to pay high amounts in penalties, etc.
Posted by: Raven Teeples at August 2, 2004 01:42 PM
at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. He consults with a variety of businesses on start-up and growth related issues, and with larger corporations on re-establishing entrepreneurial cultures within their organizations. Dr. Cornwall's current research interests include entrepreneurial finance and entrepreneurial ethics. He has authored or co-authored four books.
