The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) today released its quadrennial Problems and Priorities Survey, according to which small business owners list the cost of health insurance, government regulations, and high federal taxes as their top three concerns. Ohio with its long held a reputation for being a microcosm of the United States continues to be so with the top 6 concerns for the nation mirrored here.
“While the number one issue for small business owners remains the cost and access to healthcare, the overriding concerns are tax related, with five of the top 10 concerns revolving around that issue,” said NFIB/Ohio Vice President and Executive Director Roger Geiger. “Nearly a third (29 percent) of NFIB members feel that federal taxes on business income is their biggest headache.”
The NFIB survey asks small business owners to weigh 75 issues on a scale of 1 (a critical problem) to 7 (not a problem). Then it ranks the issues from top to bottom by their average score. According to the data, 52 percent of small business owners rank the “cost of health insurance” as a critical problem, which is unchanged from four years ago.
For the first time, Ohio-specific data is broken out and released as an addendum to the overall study. The Ohio specific data shows entrepreneurs feelings here on the issues their fellow small business owners around the country identify as most troublesome are very similar. There are several variances at the top of their concerns.
“The state budget passed in 2015 offering small business owners in Ohio a 100% tax deduction on their first $250,000 of business income is recognized in their response to the survey,” said Geiger. “However, Ohio entrepreneurs remain concerned with the amount of paperwork they are required to fill out. Once Ohio’s municipal income tax reform is fully implemented, this should provide relief in this area as well.”
Ohio small-business owners
feel more burdened on average than owners in the rest of the country in the
areas of the “Cost of Natural Gas, Propane, Gasoline, Diesel Fuel, and Oil,”
and “Real Estate Values.” They find the
“Cost and Availability of Liability Insurance,” to be far less
burdensome, a clear indication that NFIB/Ohio’s efforts in the area of civil
justice reform over the past decade have been recognized. All three issues saw
an 11 percent gap between Ohio and the nation.
There are 25,000 NFIB members in Ohio, the largest state chapter in the nation. These small business owners represent all counties of the state and all SIC codes. The typical member of NFIB in Ohio has 15 or fewer employees and has net revenues of less than one million dollars.
Click Here to review the Ohio-specific data for the 2016 Problems & Priorities.
To view the full NFIB Problems and Priorities Survey, please visit www.nfib.com.
