Healthcare reform is an important issue for small business.
That seems unlikely right now, but just as important, according to recent data from BizBuySell, is tax reform.
In a recent poll of 700 small business owners and prospective buyers, healthcare and tax reform were the top two issues mentioned for President Donald Trump to address.
Of the total group responding — owners and perspective buyers — 44 percent said healthcare was the number one issue while 41 percent said tax reform.
Small Businesses Want Tax Reform
While it appears healthcare reform — repealing and replacing Obamacare — may not happen immediately, tax reform appears to be a more achievable goal. And it may be the one that helps small business owners and buyers in the wallet the most.
Of those responding to BizBuySell’s survey, 34 percent said they’ve been financially penalized for an error they’ve made in the country’s complicated tax code.
Trump’s Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin has promised to lower taxes and simplify the code at the same time.
Obamacare Let Down
Last week proved a setback to repealing Obamacare.
That’s likely to sour a lot of small business owners and buyers. Each group told BizBuySell they wanted to see the healthcare law repealed. The number one reason why was the mandate to purchase a plan or pay a penalty.
Sixty percent of small business owners say they want Obamacare repealed and 51 percent say the mandate is the reason. The same amount of prospective small business buyers want the law repealed, too. And exactly half say the mandate is their biggest issue with Obamacare.
Red Tape
One overarching issue that needs to be addressed by Trump is regulations.
Predictably, 71 percent of owners and 74 percent of buyers say there are too many regulations. A little more than 20 percent believe there are just enough regulations. Less than 5 percent say there are too few.
President Trump Photo via Shutterstock
This article, “Small Business Owners and Buyers Ready for Trump Tax Reforms” was first published on Small Business Trends