Small businesses pleased

Owners of small businesses often feel that they are overlooked in public policy debates, that their concerns and those of large businesses are not necessarily the same and that organizations like chambers of commerce do not speak for them.

Thumbtack.com, a service that helps businesses find local help, commissioned a survey from the Kauffman Foundation of small business owners around the nation. The results on feelings toward government seem to be very different from large businesses.

In Nevada, responses suggest that business owners are not as worked up about regulation or taxes as some groups that say they speak for business.

In area after area—the ease of starting a business, regulations, health and safety, employment and hiring, tax codes, licensing, environment, zoning and networking programs—Nevada received A or B grades. It received no C grades.

Only in two areas was the state found lacking—hiring costs (other than pay) and the availability of state and local government training programs for aspiring business owners.