Free Republic

Another California small business and its workers have seemingly suffered at the hands of the state’s newly enacted $20 minimum wage. ... When making their way to work Monday morning, Navarro and her team learned upon arrival that the restaurant owner had made the decision to close its doors for good. The owner, Loren Wright, told local Fox affiliate KMPH that this was the “last thing” they wanted to do, but knew by Friday night the business likely wouldn’t be able to absorb the wage hike and didn’t “want to ruin their Easter Sunday.” The new California statewide legislation went...

WASHINGTON — Small businesses in Fayette County affected by the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore are eligible to apply for U.S. Small Business Administration low-interest loans. Fayette is one of eight Pennsylvania counties where small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, small aquaculture businesses, and private nonprofit organizations now are eligible for Economic Injury Disaster Loans, which carry interest rates of 4% (3.25% for private nonprofit organizations) and have terms of as long as 30 years. Businesses can borrow up to $2 million to pay operating expenses if their revenues dropped due to the disaster. Businesses in Maryland;...

A constitutional battle is shaping up over whether the U.S. government can force the owners and top employees of small businesses to send their addresses and photo IDs to federal financial crime investigators. The Biden administration has appealed a decision by a federal judge in Alabama, who ruled this month the Corporate Transparency Act exceeded the powers granted to Congress by the Constitution. The government says the information collected from small businesses will ferret out shell companies and help law and intelligence officers foil human smugglers, drug traffickers and terrorists. The appeal has a good chance because courts rarely strike...

91% of small business owners are concerned that "educational institutions are fostering unrealistic expectations among students regarding post-graduation and professional life." An alarming number of small business owners are concerned that American colleges and universities are creating far-fetched expectations for graduates as they transition into the workforce, according to a new survey. The Freedom Economy Index, a project of Red Balloon and PublicSquare, surveyed over 70,000 small business owners and found that 91% of respondents are concerned that “educational institutions are fostering unrealistic expectations among students regarding post-graduation and professional life.” Small business owners who responded to the survey reported...

Have you heard of the Corporate Transparency Act? Most of the estimated 32 million small business owners, including sole proprietors, whom the new law affects have not. It was just recently put on my radar by a handful of people — quite a shock for a measure that takes effect at the start of the new year! A new reporting rule under the law means that businesses will need to file information with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (a bureau within the U.S. Department of Treasury), including personal information about the people who are associated with the business, or risk...

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) metrics are a kind of social credit system designed to coerce businesses—and, by extension, individuals and all of society—to transform their practices.Through a carrot-and-stick approach, investors and banks (and soon governments) use ESG to push businesses to change how they function, regardless of what the employees and customers of those businesses want. In many cases, however, corporate executives are all too willing to go along, because they want access to the cheap capital offered by investors and financial institutions.The widespread adoption of ESG metrics, which is also commonly called “stakeholder capitalism”—is meant to radically alter...

Small businesses across the United States are experiencing a surge in bankruptcies, surpassing levels not seen since 2020. According to a UBS note reviewed by The Epoch Times, conditions could become worse as the knock-on effects from the recent banking crises begin to manifest.A person holds a sign advertising a sale at Century 21, a retail outlet that announced it was filing for bankruptcy and closing its stores due to the economic impact of the COVID pandemic, in New York City, on Sept. 26, 2020. (Andrew Kelly/File/Reuters)The note from UBS Evidence Lab shows private bankruptcy filings in 2023 have exceeded...

Now that it's April, we can say a spate of banks collapsed last month, but the repercussions of the crisis continue to unfold as if it all happened yesterday. The chatter now centers around a looming credit crunch — but the troubling part is that red flags were flying well before we heard a peep from Silicon Valley Bank. Before March, the number of small- and mid-sized businesses filing for bankruptcy was already on the rise, meaning the bank turmoil only exacerbates an existing trend. UBS strategists wrote in a note last week that those companies have been facing pressure...

Federal spending jumped from $4.45 trillion in 2019 to $6.21 trillion in 2023, according to the Congressional Budget Office. That is a 40 percent increase in four years. The pandemic supercharged the federal budget, and spending and deficits are expected to continue rising unless policymakers pursue major reforms.What is all the new spending since 2019? The answer is surprising, as shown in the two tables below. The main drivers of the recent increases have not been the largest three programs—Social Security, Medicare, and defense—but rather rapid growth in numerous other programs.Table 1 shows CBO spending for 2019 and baseline estimates...

CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois will become one of three states to require employers to offer paid time off for any reason after Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a law on Monday that will take effect next year. Starting Jan. 1, Illinois employers must offer workers paid time off based on hours worked, with no need to explain the reason for their absence as long as they provide notice in accordance with reasonable employer standards. Just Maine and Nevada mandate earned paid time time off and allot employees the freedom to decide how to use it, but Illinois’ law is further reaching,...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A small business lobbying group filed suit Tuesday to block the Treasury Department’s upcoming requirement that tens of millions of small businesses register with the government as part of an effort to prevent the criminal abuse of anonymous shell companies. The National Small Business Association argues that the new reporting rule violates the U.S. Constitution...

The findings, published Tuesday by Boston-based business tracker Alignable, illustrate the stark effect inflation is having on everyday Americans The survey of 4,789 small business owners saw more than half of respondents say their rent is at least 10 percent higher than it was six months ago If you go back seven months, the majority said rents have increased 20 percent The study found that roughly 37 percent of small businesses - almost half of all Americans working in the private sector - were left unable to pay rent in October Compounding concerns is the fact that several states, such...

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 appears to have a good shot at being signed into law. If Senate Democrats can get Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) to join Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), the bill will have the necessary 50 votes to pass through the reconciliation process. Let's hope that never happens. The plan would hurt working-class taxpayers and small-business owners across America. The act will introduce a "corporate alternative minimum tax," which will compel a 15% tax on corporate income. It will increase the taxes imposed on certain high-income earners. Finally, it will step up enforcement mechanisms within the IRS....

A little fussing. I'm trying to start a side gig doing auto detailing. I like to do this while a lot don't. I'm guessing around one or two customers a month. I'm trying to do this the right way....register with the state, the irs, etc. Went to the local county business office to get the license and that's when the train begins to come off the tracks. Have to meet with the water and then the planning department. The person at the planning dept said they'd never had anyone ask about this before. Know why....????? Everyone else is doing it...

To write off the cost of driving for work, you can apply the IRS per-mile write-off to the number of miles you put in. The alternative is to deduct part of your actual driving expenses. That would cover not only gas but also a percentage of maintenance, repairs and new tires - the whole shebang. It takes more record keeping, but it might give you a greater deduction.Do You Have a Choice?The IRS usually gives you the option to choose whichever method works best for you. In some cases, the rules won't let you take the per-mile deduction. For example,...

Of the four restaurants Rick McQuaide owns across several counties in Western Pennsylvania, one is barely making a profit, two are losing money and the fourth has been “temporarily” closed for far longer than he ever anticipated. ... White House and much of the national media .. are wildly out of touch with the struggles of the average American and small business person,” McQuaide adds. “That isn’t political, that is ­reality.” ... there isn’t an aspect of his business that has not been upended by inflation. Fewer people are applying for jobs, driving up wages. Then there is the price...

It would be an understatement to observe how the ruling class response to Covid has wreaked havoc on life and liberty. These God-given rights were supposed to be preserved by the government and its handlers; indeed, this basic function is one of the limited powers we the people initially granted to our overseers. Instead, the ever-more-powerful state has seen to it that both life and liberty are subjugated to the political fancies of elitists that possess neither the moral guidance nor the intellectual acumen to carry out their mission. Among the many frustrating aspects of government overreach since March 2020...

Patriots...I humbly submit a 67-page Small Business Shopping Guide. Jennifer Allwood is a faith-based womens' business mentor. The women-owned businesses in this guide are members of her paid mentoring group. Please buy from small businesses. The last 18 months have been brutal for them. (47% of America is employed by a small business!!!) When you buy online: 🎁Remember slow shipping times are not their fault. 🎁Neither is the product and material shortage. When you visit their store or restaurant in person: 🎄Remember that food and product shortages are not their fault. 🎄And labor shortages are not their fault either. Please...

The Biden administration’s emergency COVID-19 vaccination requirement released today could be expanded in the future to employers who have fewer than 100 workers. The emergency temporary standard, issued by the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and scheduled to go into effect on Friday, is presented as only applying to firms that have 100 or more employees. But OSHA is seeking public comments on that aspect of the standard, and it may be ultimately expanded to include smaller businesses, the agency said in the 490-page document.

JUST IN - OSHA will consider expanding the vaccine mandate to smaller businesses with fewer than 100 employees during a 30-day comment period, according to the U.S. Labor DepartmentJUST IN - OSHA will consider expanding the vaccine mandate to smaller businesses with fewer than 100 employees during a 30-day comment period, according to the U.S. Labor Department.— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) November 4, 2021