By Jeffrey Leonard; Washington Monthly
History shows that small businesses are a key component of national recovery in economic downtimes. But in today’s sputtering job market, these traditional engines of growth and employment are limping along at best. Many small firms are handicapped by a new twist on an old parasitic business practice that large corporations are using in the wake… Read more »
By Pete Kasperowicz; The Hill
Republicans signaled Wednesday that repealing a controversial tax provision in the healthcare law is one of their most pressing priorities.
House Republicans have re-numbered the bill repealing the tax requirement as H.R. 4, signaling it will be one of their first pieces of business.
The bill would repeal language requiring companies, starting in 2012,… Read more »
By Joseph Weber; Washington Times
The head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Tuesday praised what he called a "new tone" in the Obama administration's dealings with the business community but warned that rising energy prices, the new health care law and a "regulatory tsunami" continue to hurt businesses and slow the drive to create more jobs.
"We begin 2011 in a lot better shape than we… Read more »
By Rex Nutting; Wall Street Journal
It's no wonder the recovery has been so anemic: The U.S. economy has been trying to run on one leg.
Large businesses—the good leg—have been growing robustly for at least a year. Production is rising, sales are higher and profits are through the roof. But the recovery missed the second leg—small businesses, which account for about half of U.S. output… Read more »
By Jim Landers; Dallas Morning News
The health care law includes a provision that requires even the smallest businesses to send a 1099 form to the IRS whenever they buy more than $600 a year in goods or services from a single company or individual.
Andy Ellard, who runs Manda Machine Co., a 20-employee manufacturing shop in Dallas, estimates the provision will take 160 hours of his… Read more »
By Carol Tice; Entrepreneur.com Daily Dose
The past year was a rollercoaster for business owners hoping for tax relief, but help finally arrived right at the end of the year in the form of the Tax Relief and Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010. Here's a look at what's changed and what you need to know about business tax changes.
Tax expert Barbara… Read more »
By Emily Maltby; Wall Street Journal
New Year's resolutions aren't always about self-improvement. For entrepreneurs, they're also about enhancing a business or taking it to the next level. New product lines may have flopped in 2010 or sales may have slipped, but those are problems of the past. This year, entrepreneurs say, things will be different.
It's a nice thought. But the problem… Read more »
By Jeffrey Sparshott and Jeff Bater; Wall Street Journal
The U.S. economy added fewer jobs than expected in December, but the unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in 19 months as more people who still remain in the work force found employment.
Nonfarm payrolls rose by 103,000 last month as private-sector employers added 113,000 jobs, the Labor Department said Friday. The… Read more »
By Vivien Lou Chen and Timothy R. Homan; Bloomberg Business Week
Lee and Kate Amon, owners of Internet retailer Kate's Caring Gifts, say they would need a 50 percent increase in sales before adding a full-time employee. The couple, who live and work in Fremont, Calif., have two part-timers handle orders for organic food baskets and natural soaps because "it gives us the flexibility to… Read more »
By Laurie Segall; CNN Money
Small businesses saw a sharp jump in hiring in December, according to an ADP report released Wednesday.
The private sector added 297,000 jobs overall last month, with almost all of the gains coming from companies with less than 500 workers. Those firms added a net 261,000 new positions during the month, ADP estimates.
The smallest companies -- those with… Read more »
