FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ALBANY, NY (March 17, 2026) – Small business owners and business leaders from across New York traveled to Albany today to advocate their positions on a wide range of issues impacting the state’s business climate and affordability, including opposition to tax increases and support for small business tax relief, lowering the cost of auto insurance, the costs of complying with New York’s energy and climate policies, and SEQRA and regulatory reform.

The event was hosted by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the nation’s leading small business advocacy association with 11,000 members throughout the Empire State. More than 60 Small Business Day participants gathered in Empire State Plaza to hear from legislative leaders, business leaders, and policy experts and discuss the key Main Street policy challenges and latest NFIB research. Speakers included Senator George Borrello, a small business owner, NFIB member, and member of the Senate Commerce, Economic Development and Small Business, and Finance Committees, and Assemblymember Marianne Buttenschon, Chair of the Assembly Small Business Committee. 

The event program concluded with small business owners meeting with lawmakers in their Capitol offices by region to advocate NFIB’s legislative priorities and share their experiences running a business in New York. NFIB member activists called on lawmakers to give serious consideration to Main Street issues as they work through this year’s budget and the remainder of the legislative session.

“Small Business Day recognizes the vital importance of small business owners to our state, and it serves as a needed reminder to lawmakers that small businesses’ challenges are directly affected by legislative action or inaction,” said Ashley Ranslow, NFIB’s New York State Director. “Our agenda is essential to the sustainability of New York’s small businesses and Main Street jobs, and the affordability of the state’s communities. As the report Comptroller Tom DiNapoli released today – ‘Challenges Facing Small Businesses in New York‘ – declared, small business owners are the backbone of New York’s economy. Our member small businesses and others like them across New York empower Main Streets and job creation, and we are very proud of the work our members did today to advocate and tell their stories. We are grateful to the Senators, Assembly Members, and staff who spoke to and met with our activists today.”

As small business owners were meeting with lawmakers, State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli unveiled a new report detailing how vital small businesses are to New York’s economy, generating nearly $1 trillion in sales and revenues with more than 3.7 million employees at over 422,000 establishments in 2023, the most recent year for which data is available. New York ranked fourth among states in the number of small businesses and third behind California and Florida for its share of small businesses. The report showed that 80% of all New York businesses had fewer than ten workers. Small businesses employed 3.7 million people, close to 45% of the state’s jobs, earning an average of $60,579 in annual pay in 2023. While small businesses are important to the state’s economy, Main Street faces significant headwinds in New York. The report notes that “New York trails the rest of the country in key metrics, including business creation and employment.”

Comptroller DiNapoli’s report sited NFIB’s new, state-specific New York Small Business Economic Trends (SBET) report, produced by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Research Center and released earlier this month. It highlighted responses from New York small business owners on a variety of issues compared to national averages from the NFIB’s monthly SBET surveys throughout the year.

The NFIB Research Center has collected Small Business Economic Trends (SBET) Survey data, polled from a random sample of NFIB members, since 1973 and issued monthly surveys since 1986. To create NFIB New York’s new state-specific report, the organization pooled data from multiple surveys into a weighted average for a given season (Apr-Sep for summer and Oct-Mar for winter). The report analyzed data from New York respondents from summer 2025.

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For more than 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 nonprofit, nonpartisan, and member-driven. Since our founding in 1943, NFIB has been exclusively dedicated to small and independent businesses, and remains so today. For more information, please visit nfib.com.