National

It’s no secret that big businesses struggle to find skilled and credentialed employees. But this issue also impacts our nation’s job creators: small businesses. New scientific polling shows small businesses around the country believe lack of education, experience and training is one of biggest challenges they face when it comes to hiring and employment, and they’re willing to act to ensure they have the skilled workers they need to run their businesses.

The topic of religious liberty and how it relates to business practices has been front and center in the media. And once again, small businesses are in the middle of the debate. A national scientific opinion poll conducted for Small Business Majority by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research found entrepreneurs strongly believe small business owners should not be able to refuse goods or services to lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) individuals, or to deny services related to the wedding of a same-sex couple, based on an owner’s religious beliefs.

Historically, small businesses have faced punitive healthcare costs, paying on average 18% more than their large business counterparts. This places an economic burden on small business owners and their employees that has led to distressingly high numbers of uninsured or underinsured workers. New scientific polling shows the rising cost of prescription drugs also are becoming a major concern for our nation’s small business owners. 

Lawmakers dodged an economic bullet at the end of 2012 when they came to an 11th hour agreement on the highly publicized “fiscal cliff” issue. Not two months later, policymakers have yet another obstacle in their path that could have dire consequences for small business and the economy: what’s known in D.C. parlance as “sequestration.” The sequester is a host of automatic spending cuts set to begin March 1 because lawmakers haven’t agreed on a deal to reduce the deficit by their self-imposed deadline.

Small businesses are the backbone of our economy and create the vast majority of new jobs, yet as these poll findings make clear, small business owners believe large corporations and wealthy Americans pay less than their fair share of taxes. Poll respondents support specific reforms to address the problem.

Small businesses are one of the most respected constituencies in the country, and certainly one of the most courted by policymakers in Washington. However, small businesses are also a group that legislators and the general public understand little about—the very smallest ones, especially. Those businesses are known as “micro businesses.”

Small Business Majority's assessment of the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed Clean Power Plan on small businesses finds the proposal is an essential step toward addressing the threat of climate change while bolstering small businesses and unleashing new economic opportunities. The paper includes recommendations policymakers can follow as they begin implementing the Clean Power Plan—first-ever standards limiting the emissions of carbon from power plants.

The Antiquities Act of 1906 authorizes protection of public lands through national monument designation. At the time this report was written, President Obama had designated 17 new national monuments and two monument expansions. This preservation of public lands benefits local economies and small businesses as they attract visitors to these often-rural areas. Monument visitors spend money on entrance fees, lodging, meals, and other retail items from local businesses during their trip—providing an economic boost to local communities.

Small businesses have become a key weapon in politicians’ arsenals when arguing for practically any policy that has an economic impact. Policies associated with the current tax debate are no exception. Countless rounds of legislative battles have been and will continue to be fought over whether small businesses will be hurt if tax breaks for high income earners are allowed to expire at the end of 2012.

For the second time since the summer of 2011, Congress is debating whether or not to raise the federal debt ceiling—the legal limit on how much the federal government can borrow. While addressing our debt is an important issue that carries weight for small business and the economy, some politicians have been misusing the debt ceiling as a mechanism for furthering their own partisan agendas. Short-term solutions lead to uncertainty for small businesses and our job creators want our leaders to put this issue to rest.