Author: Tony Gagliardi
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Why small businesses oppose Proposition HH | PODIUM
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Tony Gagliardi Everyone has a stake in defeating Proposition HH, especially small businesses, and a big reason for that is personal – literally. Most small business owners file their taxes as individuals at the individual tax rates, not as corporations at the corporate tax rates, so they’re eligible for TABOR refunds, the same as everyone…
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THE PODIUM | Lumps of coal in small-biz stockings
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Tony Gagliardi Small-business owners are not looking forward to the holiday season in a good mood. In fact, numbers show they’re not very optimistic about the economy changing for the better anytime soon. The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) has been taking the pulse of America’s small-business owners for the last 50 years, and…
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OPINION | Biden ‘Families Plan’ will cost small biz a bundle
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Tony Gagliardi Colorado small businesses – battered by the COVID crisis – are facing yet another threat in the form of tax proposals from Washington politicians that will make it far more difficult for family-owned businesses to operate and pass the company down to the next generation. To pay for the proposed $3.5 trillion American…
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THE PODIUM | Shield small biz from COVID lawsuits
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Tony Gagliardi And so, it begins. A headline on a recent CNN story warns, “A ‘tidal wave’ of COVID-19-related workplace lawsuits could be on the way.” Another headline on the TLR website, a gathering place for a bipartisan group of lawyers who fight needless lawsuits, concurs, “Lawyer ads in 2020 are talking less about Roundup, more about coronavirus.” Allow…
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A most unhealthy new tax on Colorado employers
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Tony Gagliardi The COVID-19 crisis has decimated businesses, especially small and independent employers across Colorado. From farmers to construction to real estate, breweries, and tourism, every industry is hurting. While the state slowly lifts restrictions and businesses start opening their doors, small-business owners continue to struggle with keeping employees on payroll, providing them with continuing…
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OPINION | Paid-leave bill will backfire on COVID recovery
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Tony Gagliardi What good is a pandemic if you can’t leverage it for political gain? The gain of further endearment from your supporters by the easiest of methods: Virtue signaling. Nowhere is that on better display than over the issue of paid leave. Colorado lawmakers returned for business on Tuesday and wasted no time in…
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ROAD TO RECOVERY | Three ideas to kick-start small business
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Tony Gagliardi Some argue that restoring consumer confidence is the first step toward re-starting our economy, but I think there is a step prior to that: to restore a small-business owner’s confidence so he or she can even afford, or want, to re-open his or her doors to greet customers. This is especially the case…
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THE PODIUM | Give Gardner credit for standing by small business
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Tony Gagliardi The National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) in Colorado is the voice of small businesses across our state. We represent the small-business owners in Colorado whose enterprises are visible to everyone walking any Main Street; the small-business owners who can’t afford to have a regulatory compliance officer on staff; the small-business owners who can’t…
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THE PODIUM | Patchwork of minimum-wage laws would undermine small business
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Tony Gagliardi Currently, Colorado’s minimum wage is contained in the Constitution. The requirements for raising the minimum wage, and when to do it, is clearly laid out in the constitutional amendment passed by the voters. House Bill 1210 attempts to undo the prohibition against local governments setting their own minimum wage rates. This argument against…
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New poll, same finding — costs have consequences
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All is quiet on the minimum-wage front at the moment, but don’t think last year’s passage of Amendment 70 is any long-term cease fire. Advocates for higher rates will kick off the 2018 session of the Colorado General Assembly with a push to let cities and counties set their own minimum-wage rates. New research put…
