How do you expect the Trump administration will impact small business owners? originally appeared on Quora - the knowledge sharing network where compelling questions are answered by people with unique insights.
Answer by Marco Zappacosta, Co-founder & CEO, Thumbtack, on Quora.
The first thing to keep in mind is, small businesses are by-and-large more impacted by local and state regulation than they are by federal laws. This has been a common theme when surveying our professionals.
Since 2012, Thumbtack has issued economic sentiment surveys that ask thousands of small business entrepreneurs about the public policies that affect their ability to start, operate and grow a business. In fact, it is now the largest continuous study of small business perceptions of government policy in the United States.
While it's still too early to tell for sure what the impact of President-elect Trump will be on the conditions in the small business economy, the top two policy issues our pros want the new administration to focus on are healthcare and access to capital. We've heard a lot from our pros how healthcare benefit portability was key to enabling them to start their own businesses, and we will continue to advocate for it as part of whatever reforms are to come.
It also seems likely that at some point over the coming years there will be some legislation (or rulings) that clarify the employee / contractor distinction. This is often in the news in regard to large labor platforms, but it's actually an issue that all of our small businesses face as well, so we look forward to more clarity on that front.
We're digging deeper into these topics, and we'll continue to track how small business owners across the country are reacting to the moves the new administration makes. You can count on us to make sure that the voices of our pros are heard in these debates!
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