Small business owners’ faith rests in the hands of the President-elect.
Owners are excited about a Donald Trump presidency, according to CNBC. NFIB, for instance, released a report that shows small business owners’ optimism rose after Election Day.
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During 2016, CNBC did a Small Business Cities series in which they profiled around 40 companies in 12 different cities, and asked some of those owners what they’re looking forward to in 2017. Here are the issues most important to them for the next year.
Deregulation and Tax Reform
President-elect Trump has promised more deregulation and a better tax reform plan all throughout his campaign. Most notably, he said he would drop the tax brackets from its current seven down to three (12 percent, 25 percent, and 33 percent). So far, things seem to be going his way, as just recently a federal judge in Texas halted the Department of Labor’s overtime rule from it’s scheduled effective date of Dec. 1.
“As a business owner, you want to be pathologically optimistic and hope that moving forward, people with business experience making these policies will have a positive impact overall,” said Jeff Winkler, co-founder of San Diego-based Origin Code Academy. He added that lowered taxes and less regulation “would impact our business and allow us to hire teachers faster so we can provide more developers for San Diego in a very real way.”
Minimum Wage
The topic of whether or not to raise the minimum wage has been a hot button one this election season, and it’s been keeping small business owners on their toes. But some owners aren’t too concerned now that Trump has appointed Andrew Puzder as Labor Department Secretary, who has greatly opposed raising the federal minimum wage to $10 an hour, let alone the $15 an hour some legislators have been calling for.
“We know financial stability is a key indicator of the success of our company, and if our workforce is financially stable, they will be more productive and supportive of our growth,” said Joe DeLoss, founder of Columbus, Ohio-based Hot Chicken Takeover. DeLoss pays his workers $8.10 an hour, with some of his employees making between $12 and $13 an hour. “We are really dialed in to supporting increased wage growth for all of our team members. We are pretty far down that path with or without legislation.”
Healthcare
Speaking of hot button topics, Trump repeatedly made promises to repeal Obamacare during his campaign trail, and it looks like he hasn’t swayed on that stance too much. This could be good or bad news for some small business owners, who cited the cost of healthcare as their number one concern.
But maybe not for the third of DeLoss’ workers who are currently full-time staff and entitled to employer-subsidized healthcare. “We provide an alternative insurance product that reduces the rate of some medical costs based on pre-negotiated rates.”
However, some owners, like Eric Yelsma, who owns Detroit-based Detroit Denim, is taking a “wait and see” approach on what will become of the ACA. “I do have staff that are on Obamacare. We don’t offer any benefits now, but that is a goal of ours as we grow. It’s one of the primary things we want to offer our staff here.”
Related:
Infographic: 5 Small Business Goals for 2017
Small Business Owners Remain Confident 2017 Will Turn Things Around
What Does Trump’s Small Business Administration Appointment Mean for Owners?
