Small business owners say federal government is failing them
Goldman Sachs survey reveals deficiencies in program effectiveness, services and tax credit availability.
Almost two-thirds of small business owners (70%) give the U.S. government a “C or below” grade for the effectiveness of programs, services, and tax credits available to them. Even more (85%) say the government does a poor job of communicating about essential resources and services.
Those are two eyebrow-raising findings from a Goldman Sachs survey conducted in January of 1,838 participants in the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices initiative; respondents represented 48 states.
“Business owners don’t feel like the programs are all that effective, and they also don’t even feel like they have a sense of what’s available, some of which maybe is effective,” Joe Wall, national director of Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices, told CBSNews.com.
Nearly all small business owners responding to the survey claim elected officials in Washington, D.C., prioritize policy issues impacting big businesses over small ones, and they believe the federal government should be doing more to tailor programs and services to better reflect the realities and needs of small businesses.
On top of that, 94% of small business owners favor a major overhaul of the Small Business Administration, which has not been comprehensively updated for 23 years.
“During the pandemic, small businesses like mine had to innovate and remain nimble to survive and thrive,” Sydney Rieckhoff, owner of Almost Famous Popcorn in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, told CBSNews.com. “Unfortunately, the historic challenges presented by the pandemic made clear that government programs designed to help small businesses are stuck in the past. Now, we are navigating our new normal with those same outdated tools and yesterday’s programs.”
Related: Increasing number of small businesses concerned about economy, survey finds
Still, 68% of survey respondents are optimistic about the financial trajectory of their business in 2023, with 60% expecting to make a profit this year. And almost 90% expect to create new jobs or maintain the same number of jobs.