Ever feel like you’re just throwing money out the window when it comes to small business costs? Or do you feel like the current economy and rising price tags make it impossible to show a profit? You’re not alone. New research released from the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), sponsored by Wells Fargo , shows the top concerns among small business owners are business costs, particularly those that are difficult to control such as health insurance costs, energy costs and inflation. The survey results are from the seventh edition of Small-Business Problems and Priorities survey, based on 3,530 small business owner responses to a mail survey circulated in the first three months of this year. The study is conducted every four years. Respondents rated each of 75 possible business problems on a scale of 1 to 7, with 1 indicating a "critical problem" and 7 indicating "not a problem." Problems are ranked according to the average rating received. The 75 business problems evaluated are organized into 10 problem clusters with each cluster containing all of the problems relating to a single topic. Half of the top 10 problems worrying small business owners appear in the "costs" cluster, with the cost of health insurance continuing its 20-year reign as the number one problem for small business owners. More than 56 percent say it is a "critical problem." Other cost issues in the top 10 include the cost of fuels and electricity, supplies, inventories and worker's compensation insurance. "For four years, the economy provided a good, stable foundation for small business owners to do business, but as it started to take a negative turn over the last several months, they felt the effects of rising costs of doing business as reflected by these results," said Bruce D. Phillips, Senior Fellow at the NFIB Research Foundation and co-author of the report with NFIB Policy Analyst Holly Wade. "As the economic outcome remains uncertain, small business owners are searching for innovative ways to reduce expenses and increase sales." The remaining top 10 problems fall into the "tax" cluster, including: federal taxes on business income, property tax (real, inventory or personal property), tax complexity and state taxes on business income. Tax complexity, a new problem on this year's survey, ranks fifth on the survey and is a "critical problem" for 23 percent of business owners. "As the economic downturn persists, small business owners are even more challenged by the costs of health insurance and the complexity of taxes," said Rebecca Macieira-Kaufmann, executive vice president and head of Wells Fargo's small business segment. For more information about the latest Small-Business Problems and Priorities, contact NFIB media department at 202-554-9000. | 
