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Take Note
CUSTOMERS NOT SPENDING TAX RETURNS
If you’re waiting for that rush of customers to come in looking
to spend their tax returns, you might have a long wait. The 77 million
tax refunds sent through April 19 set a new record and average $1,937,
but a major economic impact is not expected at most cash registers.
Fewer than one in seven taxpayers say they will be spending their
returns this year. Instead refunds will go mainly toward paying down
debt, savings account deposits or making an investment. Only one percent
will give it to charity.
RENEWING BUSINESS INSURANCE? PREPARE FOR
STICKER SHOCK
Get ready for a shock from your business insurance premium bill. After
years of cutthroat competition in property and casualty insurance,
a catch-up is in order with rates rising 30 percent or more this year
and next.
Worker’s comp will be going up 20 to 25 percent, which is prompting
many to turn to trade association programs to hold these costs in
check. For property, casualty and general liability many small businesses
are self-insuring by raising deductibles.
WIDE OPEN SPACES . . . AND LOW RENTS
Looking to move your business into new retailing space? Now may be
just the time to do it. Failing and consolidating businesses have
left a glut of empty commercial space in the rental market, and rents
have fallen at their fastest rate since 1991.
According to Reis, a real-estate research firm, the nation’s
businesses vacated 26 million square feet in the first quarter. Coupled
with 14 million square feet of new commercial space, that pushed the
national vacancy rate to 15 percent.
HOUSE APPROVES INTEREST-BEARING CHECKING
ACCOUNTS
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill to allow businesses
to earn interest on their checking accounts. This measure would repeal
a law dating back to the Depression.
Big businesses often side step this restriction by using “sweep”
accounts, which move money from checking to interest-bearing money-market
accounts automatically. Small businesses often cannot do so because
of the high minimum investment requirements for money market accounts.
The bill faces tough going in the Senate, which did not act on a similar
measure passed by the House last year.
ERGONOMICS GUIDELINES, NOT RULES PLANNED
The Bush administration says the Occupational Safety and Health Administration
(OSHA) will begin issuing industry-specific guidelines to reduce repetitive-stress
injuries in the workplace. However, labor unions and key Democrats
are demanding stiff ergonomics rules.
The stricter rules being sought would require purchase of new equipment
or other steps to fight carpal tunnel syndrome and lower-back pain
resulting from repeated motions in the workplace.
WOMEN’S D-I-Y CLASSES POPULAR AT HOME
STORES
They started out as a female alternative to Monday Night Football,
but now women-only do-it-yourself classes are increasingly popular
at home improvement chains such as Home Depot (the nation’s largest)
and Lowe’s.
How to install a toilet, hang wallpaper, patch drywall holes or hang
a door are among the D-I-Y tasks women are learning. Both the Depot
and Lowe’s say about half of all purchases in their stores are
made by women. Government statistics show single women now are the
second-largest group of home buyers in the United States after couples. |
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