Small-business owners say federal government is failing to meet their needs: survey

More than two-thirds of small-businesses owners said in a Goldman Sachs survey that the federal government is failing to meet their needs. 

The survey, published on Sunday, found that 70 percent of small-business owners surveyed gave the federal government a C grade or below on the effectiveness of the programs, services and tax credits available to them. 

Only 16 percent gave the federal government a B or higher. 

Eighty-five percent of small-businesses owners surveyed also gave the federal government a C grade or below for the job its does when it comes to marketing and communicating about the programs, services and tax credits available to them. 

“Business owners don’t feel like the programs are all that effective, and they also don’t even feel like they have a sense of what’s available, some of which maybe is effective,” Joe Wall, national director of Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices, told CBS News.

Ninety-six percent said that the federal government should be doing more to tailor programs and services to better reflect the realities and needs of small businesses. And 93 percent believe it’s a problem that elected officials in Washington prioritize policy issues impacting big businesses over small ones. 

Sixty-eight percent of respondents said they are optimistic about about the financial trajectory of their business this year, while 29 percent said they feel pessimistic.

The Goldman Sachs survey was conducted from Jan. 23 to Jan. 26 with a total of 1,838 respondents participating, including small business owners from 48 states.