Small Businesses Fret the Finances

What keeps small business owners up at night? The things they can’t control, according to a study by the National Federation of Independent Business, sponsored by Wells Fargo.

The Small Business Problems and Priorities survey, based on responses from 3,530 small business owners, asked respondents to rate each of 75 possible business problems on a scale of 1 to 7 with 1 being “critical” and 7 being “not a problem.”

Half of the top 10 problems worrying small business owners were costs, such as health care and energy. The remaining top 10 problems fall under tax, such as federal taxes on business income, property tax (real, inventory or personal property), tax complexity, and state taxes on business income.

The cost of health insurance continued its 20-year run as the No. 1 problem, with more than 55% of respondents saying it was “critical.”

Source: National Federation of Independent Business, www.nfib.com.