The economic and political climates not conducive to Main Street firms at the moment
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Tony Gagliardi, Colorado State Director, [email protected],
or Tony Malandra, Senior Media Manager, [email protected]
DENVER, Nov. 21, 2023—Congress and the Colorado Legislature are not helping matters in making this coming Small Business Saturday, November 25, a prosperous one for Main Street entrepreneurs, their workers, and the communities they’re located in, said the state director for the nation’s leading small business association today.
“I hope I’m wrong about this, I really want to be, but I don’t see the current economic and political climates very conducive to a successful Small Business Saturday,” said Tony Gagliardi, Colorado state director for the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB). “I don’t believe the promotional campaigns for Small Business Saturday are lacking in any regard, but the political climate is very overcast and successful small business owners take everything into consideration both within and without their abilities to control things.”
Specifically, Gagliardi pointed to this week’s special session of the Colorado General Assembly, which was called to essentially override the will of the people expressed only two weeks ago when voters rejected Proposition HH and opted to keep their TABOR refunds. The Legislature disregarded the election result and sent Gov. Jared Polis measures, which he signed into law, that chopped Prop. HH into more bite-sized pieces for Coloradans to consume.
Congress’s struggle to keep the Small Business Deduction from expiring in 2025 was another culprit cited by Gagliardi in preventing the economy from seeing any lasting sunlight. “Many Main Street enterprises rely on the deduction on their federal tax forms to remain in business, and it’s supremely irritating that the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which created the Small Business Deduction, made big businesses’ tax rate decreases permanent.”
The Small Business Economy
According to NFIB’ latest monthly Jobs Report, Tight Labor Market Continues to Hinder Main Street, “In October, 43% of all owners reported job openings they could not fill in the current period … The percent of small business owners reporting labor quality as their top small business operating problem remains elevated at 23%.
NFIB’s other research study, the Small Business Economic Trends report, showed “The Optimism Index decreased 0.1 points in October to 90.7, marking the 22nd month below the 50-year average. The last time the Optimism Index was at or above the average was December 2021 … Twenty-two percent of owners reported that inflation was their single most important problem in operating their business, down one point from last month. Owners expecting better business conditions over the next six months was unchanged from September at a negative 43%”
NOTE TO EDITORS: NFIB research are national snapshots not broken down by state.
Background on Small Business Saturday
According to Wikipedia, “First observed in the United States on November 27, 2010, Small Business Saturday is a counterpart to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which feature big box retail and e-commerce stores respectively. By contrast, Small Business Saturday encourages holiday shoppers to patronize brick and mortar businesses that are small and local.”
According to Econsult Solutions, “… the clear economic benefits that communities receive from small businesses are difficult to ignore. Typically, roughly 60-70% of money spent on buying locally is funneled back into the community, vs. About 40-50% when buying from non-locally owned businesses. This is consistent with a study … which found that 67% of money spent on local businesses remains circulating within the community … Keeping money localized is important, as is the creation of new jobs, which local businesses are adept at doing. Small businesses account for just under half of all economic activity across the U.S., and the more that small businesses are supported and created, the number of jobs they will create will only increase as well.”
Keep up with the latest Colorado small-business news at www.nfib.com/co or by following NFIB on Twitter @NFIB_CO or on Facebook @NFIB.CO.
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For 80 years, NFIB has been advocating on behalf of America’s small and independent business owners, both in Washington, D.C., and in all 50 state capitals. NFIB is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, and member-driven association. Since its founding in 1943, NFIB has been exclusively dedicated to small and independent businesses and remains so today. For more information, please visit nfib.com.
NFIB Colorado
1700 Lincoln Street, 17th Floor
Denver, CO 80203
303-860-1778
www.nfib.com/colorado
Twitter: @NFIB_CO
Facebook: NFIB.CO
