Girls Going Places

Don't forget to nominate a young entrepreneur for a Girls Going Places scholarship. The deadline is February 24th.

Don't you know a young woman who has initiated a new business and given back to her community?

If you do, nominate her now for a scholarship.

This program is sponsored by Guardian Insurance, a national patron of NAWBO.

Click here for more info.

Procurement Issues

Here's a link to a comprehensive article published by the NAWBO-LA chapter on issues related to the federal government's failure to implement the women owned small business procurement program.

Good to use in educating your chapter members and other women business owners about this issue.

New Census Data Confirm -- Number of Women Firms Growing at Twice Rate of All Firms

The Census Bureau has just released a report that analyzes data from a 2002 Census survey of millions of business owners. According to the survey, 28% of all US private businesses are owned 51% or more by women. Most of the women owned firms are sole proprietor businesses, but so are 76% of all private businesses. The number of women owned firms grew 20% between 1997-2002; rate of increase for all private businesses was just 10%.

Our own Erin Fuller is quoted in a story on the survey in the Quad-City (Iowa) Times.

Click here to read the press release and get a copy of the survey.

NAWBO Joins the Coalition for Affordable Health Care Coverage

NAWBO is the newest member of the Coalition for Affordable Health Care Coverage.

The purposes for which the Coalition is organized are to promote the enactment of:

• Tax credits or deductions directed to individuals and families for the purchase of private health insurance; and

• Other market-oriented approaches to extending private health insurance coverage to the uninsured.

Read more about the key legislation supported by the Coalition on its website.

Among the bills supported by the Coalition is the FlexHSA bill recently introduced by Virginia Congressman Eric Cantor (R 7th District). According to talking points circulated by the Coalition:

The Flex HSAs Act will help to expand the adoption of HSAs by Americans who work for large employers by making HSAs a more attractive option for health care coverage. It will do so by:

Permitting the coordination of HSAs with Flexibile Spending Accounts (FSAs) and/or Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs) by allowing them to be used in conjunction with HSA/High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) arrangements, and

For HSA contribution limits, eliminating the "lesser of the deductible" limitation. In other words, allow individuals and families to contribute an amount equal to the maximum contribution limit regardless of the deductible, and

Limiting total annual contributions to an HSA, an FSA and/or an HRA so as not to exceed the out-of-pocket maximum for the HDHP.

Tucson NAWBO Chapter Advocates for Lower Business Property Taxes

Lots going on in the Arizona legislature that will affect small businesses from possible taxes on services, to minimum wage increases, to business property tax rates. The Arizona Daily Star has this story on policy changes that would affect the bottom line for small businesses in the state.

Stepping up as to advocate for lower business property taxes on behalf of NAWBO Tuscon is Lola Kakes, southwest regional public policy coordinator for NAWBO and Tucson chapter public policy representative:

Business property tax
Until last year, business property taxes were levied at 25 percent of the full cash value of a business, compared with 10 percent for homeowners.

A provision included in this fiscal year's budget lowered the rate to 24.5 percent. The rate will continue to decline a half-percent each year, finally resting on 20 percent in 2015.

The Arizona Citizens Finance Review Commission has recommended further lowering the tax to make the state more competitive. But it's estimated that $350 million in tax revenues would be lost or mitigated by a rise in taxes for homeowners.

For: The National Association of Women Business Owners has made "fair and equitable tax treatment for small business" one of its top public policy issues. "We know that larger organizations have better tax breaks than small businessmen," said Lola Kakes, public policy chairwoman for the Tucson chapter of NAWBO. "So we're just trying to get some tax equity."

Against: The state should take a cautious approach to anything that might cut tax revenue prematurely, said Tom Fraker, executive director of the Arizona Small Business Association. In cases where a surplus is rumored to exist, "everyone jumps on the bandwagon to get a piece of it," he said. "In reality, it doesn't take much of a turn in the economy for that surplus to disappear."

Rather, he suggested waiting until the effects of the 2006 tax reduction on the state treasury can be evaluated.

More on Opposition to Paid Family Leave

In another article on the proposed New Jersey paid family leave legislation, the president of NJAWBO highlights the real world problems faced by small businesses under the proposal:

Although the program wouldn't raise business taxes, business groups cited a host of problems. Their chief concern: It would leave small-business owners scrambling to hire temporary workers, paying overtime or finding ways to make their existing work force more productive.

"Our issue is not necessarily who's paying for it," said Robin Tabakin, president of the New Jersey Association of Women Business Owners. "Our issue is how it affects small business when an employee takes off."