Greetings friends. This is always a busy time of year for businesses as we approach the holidays and the new year. Many business owners are trying to gear up for the busy retail season, trying to decide what to do on inventory levels, getting things organized for filing taxes, and planning for the next year.
NFIB has been busy at the federal level engaging on the tax reform debate to make sure small businesses, our nation’s number one job creators, are getting the relief they need.
Meanwhile here in Georgia, things have been just as busy as we have been watching several special elections for some open legislative seats around the state and gearing up for the upcoming legislative session in January.
While some are expecting this to be a short legislative session due to it being an election year, there are a number of issues of importance that we expect to come up that NFIB will be watching. Some of those issues include establishing a statewide business court to expedite cases that get backlogged in the judicial system that are specific to business issues. Other issues include worker’s compensation, civil asset forfeiture reform, sales tax on internet purchases, and streamlining the business license process just to name a few.
Of course, we will also have to play defense like we do every year against bills to increasing the minimum wage, adding new insurance mandates and bills adding additional burdensome requirements on business owners. Georgia’s small business owners and NFIB are up to the challenge though and I look forward to this upcoming session as we work hard to make sure our members can continue to own, operate and grow their businesses.
Nathan Humphrey
State Director NFIB Georgia
