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Show - 7 " "IP.- -, jj Y!' . ' i THE KATHY HARRISON family was awarded $100 and the Jill Player and Darcey Goodrich family were each given a kangaroo from the Heyloft during their spring sales promotion. Liability insurance tops small business concerns A new survey of nationwide small businesses shows that the cost of liability insurance, which is directly regulated by government agencies, is undermining economic growth and the ability these businesses have to hire the unemployed. Respondents to the survey by the National Na-tional Federation of Independent Business rated costs that are regulated by government agencies as ' more than half of the top 10 concerns for small business, while the other concerns con-cerns result from an unhealthy economy. "Among the most serious problems small firms identified were 'payroll taxes,' which have been hiked twice in the last nine months," said Douglas Foxley, spokesman for NFIBUtah members, noting that independent-business independent-business owners see lawmakers as holding the key. The survey, conducted in November, asked the 20,980 random small-business owners to rate 72 pro- . blems by severity. Interest rates were rated No. 1, but researchers attribute the responses to the abnormally high interest rates at the time the survey was taken. Responses were categorized by in dustry to find specific problem areas. Manufacturers and wholesalers were more concerned with worker productivity produc-tivity than other industries, while transportation firms were harder hit by government paperwork requirements. re-quirements. Small retailers, on the other hand, found electricity rates harder to swallow than most and agricultural firms had a big problem with competition from imported products. "Small entrepreneurs in metropolitan areas see their problems in the same order, and with roughly the same intensity, as their small-town twins," said Foxley, adding that rural employers were less burdened by finding fin-ding and keeping good workers than were the urban employers. Small, metropolitan businesses rated payroll taxes, benefit costs and locating qualified employees as bigger problems pro-blems than either small-city or rural firms. Problems were rated similarly regardless of what state or region the business was located in, except when reflecting a public policy. NFIB members ranked difficulties including good highways, adequate parking or public transportation at the bottom of their priorities list. |
