http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/rss-smallbiz-vote/ SmallBiz Vote discusses candidates, policy, and news of the 2012 U.S. elections from the perspective of business owners and entrepreneurs. en-US Copyright (c) 2013 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved Thu, 06 Jun 2013 13:10:49 -0400 5 http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/rss-smallbiz-vote/ http://l.yimg.com/a/i/brand/purplelogo/base/us.gif Small business’s five-month hiring streak ended in May. Small employers reported an average gain of -0.04 workers per firm last month, according to the National Federation of Independent Businesses. In April, small businesses saw an average increase of 0.14 employees per firm, which was the fifth consecutive month of growth reported by NFIB. NFIB’s chief [...]http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/blogs/smallbiz-vote/small-biz-growth-streak-suffers-reversal-171049768.htmlThu, 06 Jun 2013 13:10:49 -0400advisor/blogs/smallbiz-vote/small-biz-growth-streak-suffers-reversal-171049768The Small Business Administration has teamed with American Express OPEN and Women Impacting Public Policy to launch a national initiative aimed at boosting government contracting opportunities for women-owned small businesses. Representatives of the three participating organizations unveiled the program, dubbed ChallengeHER, at a luncheon for women business owners in Washington this week. ChallengeHER will help [...]http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/blogs/smallbiz-vote/initiative-help-women-business-owners-government-contracts-132229204.htmlThu, 25 Apr 2013 09:22:29 -0400advisor/blogs/smallbiz-vote/initiative-help-women-business-owners-government-contracts-132229204On the White House’s list of “the top 10 things you need to know about President Obama’s 2014 budget” that was released yesterday, numbers 1, 2, and 3 are all designed to please small business. The White House says that the $3.78 trillion budget, proposed for the fiscal year starting in October: Ends tax breaks [...]http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/blogs/smallbiz-vote/good-bad-small-business-president-budget-141028309.htmlThu, 11 Apr 2013 10:10:28 -0400advisor/blogs/smallbiz-vote/good-bad-small-business-president-budget-141028309A key small-business friendly component of the Affordable Care Act won’t go into effect as soon as planned. The Act, passed in 2010, stipulated that Small Business Health Options Programs would establish group health insurance exchanges for small employers in each state. The so-called SHOPs would, beginning in January 2014, offer employees of those businesses [...]http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/blogs/smallbiz-vote/health-care-reform-delay-extends-uncertainty-business-211416159.htmlTue, 02 Apr 2013 17:14:16 -0400advisor/blogs/smallbiz-vote/health-care-reform-delay-extends-uncertainty-business-211416159Think the government is not crucial to fostering entrepreneurial success? Some experts would beg to differ. A national American Express OPEN initiative that launched today in Milwaukee is based on the idea, conceived by renowned entrepreneurship thinker Daniel Isenberg, that public sector leaders, including government officials, are key to boosting the development of entrepreneurship ecosystems. [...]http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/blogs/smallbiz-vote/initiative-support-entrepreneurial-revolution-212834930.htmlThu, 28 Mar 2013 17:28:34 -0400advisor/blogs/smallbiz-vote/initiative-support-entrepreneurial-revolution-212834930Nobody knows better how to raise flags for an IRS audit than tax accountants. And boy do they have stories to tell. The online accounting software provider Xero surveyed its network of accounting partners to find out about the most ill-advised deductions small business owners have tried to take. They also asked accountants to point [...]http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/blogs/smallbiz-vote/tax-deductions-shouldn-t-try-192344134.htmlTue, 19 Mar 2013 15:23:44 -0400advisor/blogs/smallbiz-vote/tax-deductions-shouldn-t-try-192344134If you’re among the 10 percent of small business owners who do your own taxes, take heart as you pull your hair out getting your forms in order this month: A simpler tax code is another step closer, and provisions aimed at small business are included. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) [...]http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/blogs/smallbiz-vote/simpler-small-business-tax-code-under-discussion-032913441.htmlWed, 13 Mar 2013 23:29:13 -0400advisor/blogs/smallbiz-vote/simpler-small-business-tax-code-under-discussion-032913441The sequester that went into effect on Friday will impose a nearly $60 million cut on the Small Business Administration, that, taken together with innovation-hindering cuts to education, science, and health budgets, will create an increasingly austere climate for small businesses, according to Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, a New York representative and ranking Democrat on the [...]http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/blogs/smallbiz-vote/house-dems-predict-sequester-doom-gloom-small-biz-022054877.htmlMon, 04 Mar 2013 21:20:54 -0500advisor/blogs/smallbiz-vote/house-dems-predict-sequester-doom-gloom-small-biz-022054877Six weekends remain before Tax Day, and advice for business owners abounds. Your first stop for getting clear about what exactly your tax obligations are and how to meet them, whether you’re a sole proprietor or independent contractor or a business with employees, should probably be the IRS Small Business and Self Employed Tax Center. [...]http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/blogs/smallbiz-vote/tax-day-advice-6-tips-next-042819986.htmlSat, 02 Mar 2013 23:28:19 -0500advisor/blogs/smallbiz-vote/tax-day-advice-6-tips-next-042819986A 2.7 percent budget cut might seem trivial compared to what many small business owners have had to deal with during the recession. But reports about what such a slash to the federal budget would mean to small business owners are mostly dire. The cut is due March 1 if Congress does not come up [...]http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/blogs/smallbiz-vote/sequester-threats-small-business-160015441.htmlMon, 25 Feb 2013 11:00:15 -0500advisor/blogs/smallbiz-vote/sequester-threats-small-business-160015441Just one year after her position was elevated to the Cabinet level, Small Business Administrator Karen Mills will step down, President Obama announced yesterday. In a statement, the President said: "Over the last four years, Karen has made it easier for small businesses to interact with the federal government by reducing paperwork and cutting through [...]http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/blogs/smallbiz-vote/sba-karen-mills-step-down-232435892.htmlTue, 12 Feb 2013 18:24:35 -0500advisor/blogs/smallbiz-vote/sba-karen-mills-step-down-232435892With the start of a new year many business owners get a boost of renewal and new energy. The trick is to sustain that energy for as long as possible. Some of our articles this week should help you do that. Our Startup Diaries series is written by real small business owners working away on [...]http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/blogs/smallbiz-vote/energy-startups-lessons-small-business-reading-february-1-010425664.htmlFri, 01 Feb 2013 20:04:25 -0500advisor/blogs/smallbiz-vote/energy-startups-lessons-small-business-reading-february-1-010425664Telling legislators how their regulations affect your small business is now as easy as clicking here. The House Committee on Small Business yesterday unveiled Small Biz Reg Watch, a website that alerts users to proposed regulatory actions with consequences for small business. The site lists the regs, describes their impact on small businesses, and provides [...]http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/blogs/smallbiz-vote/portal-solicits-comments-small-business-regs-192703310.htmlFri, 01 Feb 2013 14:27:03 -0500advisor/blogs/smallbiz-vote/portal-solicits-comments-small-business-regs-192703310Small business owners are starting 2013 with a sunnier outlook than they ended 2012 with, according results of an online survey released on Friday. The quarterly Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business survey in early January found a significant jump in optimism among 601 small business owners since surveying a random sample of the group online in [...]http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/blogs/smallbiz-vote/small-businesses-start-sunny-outlook-survey-033602445.htmlSun, 27 Jan 2013 22:36:02 -0500advisor/blogs/smallbiz-vote/small-businesses-start-sunny-outlook-survey-033602445The Small Business Administration has launched an online marketplace designed to simplify the way small tech businesses find and bid on small contracts with federal agencies. Innovative technology companies are invited to use RFP-EZ to create a company profile and bid on low-cost, high-impact jobs. According to SBA: “By simply creating a company profile on [...]http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/blogs/smallbiz-vote/sba-strives-streamline-low-cost-tech-contracts-171557445.htmlSat, 26 Jan 2013 12:15:57 -0500advisor/blogs/smallbiz-vote/sba-strives-streamline-low-cost-tech-contracts-171557445