The vast majority of small businesses want tax reform, according to the 2015 Small Business Attitudes on Taxes survey released on Monday by Endurance International Group.
The survey of 827 U.S. small business firms (all customers of Endurance, a provider of cloud-based platforms) found that 90% believe that the federal tax code needs reform, and 88% want it to be a priority for the 114th Congress and the White House.
The top three reasons why reform is necessary, according to respondents, are that taxes for small business are too high; tax rules for small businesses are too confusing; and there are too many kinds of taxes to keep track of.
“The survey results are clear: U.S. small businesses want tax code reform and they want our federal lawmakers to enact reforms that make small business growth a priority,” Endurance founder and chief executive Hari Ravichandran said in a press release.
“If we want to keep our economy moving, Congress and the White House need to address the concerns of U.S. small businesses. It starts with looking at ways to reform the tax code that enable small-business owners to reinvest in expansion and hiring. These survey results should be an eye-opener for federal legislators as they come back from the April recess.”
More than half of Endurance’s clients (52%) said that tax reform “would be very helpful to growing and expanding my business,” and 73% said that federal levies are more concerning than state and local taxes. Still, 88% of the respondents remain wary that lawmakers would adequately take into account the impact on small businesses when considering reforms to the tax code.
Any legislation regarding online sales tax, for example, is a concern to 63% of the respondents, with 55% saying that online sales should not be taxed at all. Nearly a quarter (24%) believe that online sales should be taxed, but only in the state where the business is located; 14% said online sales should be taxed, but only in the state where the customer is located; and 7% said online sales should be taxed both in the state of the business and the customer’s location.
However, 79% said small businesses with less than 50 employees should be exempt from any online sales tax requirements.