Despite a stalling economy, slightly more than half of family-owned business leaders in Connecticut have a somewhat or extremely optimistic outlook on their company’s profitability over the next year, according to a new survey.
While 51 percent expressed optimism, 11 percent of the family business leaders said they were not at all optimistic about their bottom line.
Respondents to survey questions from the Connecticut Business & Industry Association and the University of Connecticut’s Family Business Program also said several factors were having a strong or somewhat strong negative impact on family businesses: health care costs (84 percent), the state’s high cost of doing business (75 percent), personal income tax (68 percent), and energy costs (67 percent).
“Family businesses have pinpointed corporate and personal taxes as hampering their current and future growth,” said Jay M. Sattler, a tax partner at Blum Shapiro, a sponsor of the survey.
Concerns about health care costs aren’t surprising, given that Connecticut has the second highest cost in the United States for employee-sponsored health care, said Priscilla M. Cale, program director of the UConn’s Family Business Program.
The survey was based on 573 responses to 4,500 mailed questionnaires.
Family-owned businesses comprise two-thirds of all the nation’s businesses and contribute 64 percent of the national gross domestic product, and employ 62 percent of the national work force, according to CBIA.
Asked what state government could do to encourage family-owned businesses, respondents said it could reduce taxes/offer tax credits (80 percent) or reform the property tax system (49 percent). They also called for encouraging business investment, improving the regulatory climate, and reforming or repealing the estate tax.
The survey was released in conjunction with an awards program on the UConn campus in Storrs, where 10 family businesses were honored.
Family Businesses Of The Year:
Allied Printing Services Inc., Manchester
Baronet Coffee Inc., Hartford
Marcucio Gardens, Derby
Nursing Services Inc., East Hartford
Olender’s Inc., Vernon
Paine’s Inc., East Granby
Peter Paul Electronics Co. Inc., New Britain
Shawmut Equipment Co. Inc., Manchester
The Willington Cos., Stafford Spring
William B. Meyer Inc., Stratford g
