Where are tax rates going in 2011? If you guessed “up”, you’re absolutely correct. If Congress doesn’t do anything about the Bush tax cuts which are slated to expire in 2011 here’s what happens.
The estate tax, 0% this year, will go to 55% on assets above a million dollars. Now, your estate has already been taxed. You’ve paid income taxes, property taxes, dividend taxes, capital gains taxes and you’re sitting on what’s left over and the government still wants over half of what you own when you die.
George Steinbrenner’s heirs saved $500 million dollars – that’s $500 million they wouldn’t have if George had died 6 months later.
The income tax rates, which Democrats keep insisting are “tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans” will change as follows:
- 10% goes to 15% – If you pay a 10% tax rate you are not one the “wealthiest Americans” and your tax rate is going up 50%!
- 25% goes to 28% – a 12% increase
- 28% goes to 31% – a 10.7% increase
- 33% goes to 36% – a 9% increase
- 35% goes to 39.6% – a 13% increase
Because most small business owners in America pay personal income tax rates on their business profits, this affects your bottom line. And that’s just for starters… Continue reading .
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Many small businesses don’t advertise at all – they rely on word of mouth advertising. But more and more people are turning to the Internet to verify recommendations from even friends and family.
As I mentioned in an earlier post (Where Do Moms Go For Advice Online?) many women get product recommendations from mom bloggers online.
According to new research from Cone consumers are even turning to the web to investigate product recommendations from family and friends.
Before deciding whether to purchase recommended products or services, more than four-out-of-five consumers (81%) will go online to verify those recommendations, specifically through
researching product/service information (61%), reading user reviews (55%) or searching ratings websites (43%).
Of those who go online to check out a product’s reputation, 77% say that they are more likely to purchase products or services when they can find additional recommendations about them.
And these aren’t just high-cost products, either. While 82% go online to check out cars, 72% will check out recommendations for a movie or a restaurant on the web and the numbers are even higher for the 25-34 age group.
What they find there, either good or bad, highly influences their decision on whether to purchase.
What this means for small business is that, just like the big guys, you need to get your product or service to social networks, bloggers, review sites, etc. prior to a major advertising campaign so potential buyers have someone else’s word for it rather than your own..
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