CENTRAL OHIO -- Twenty-five percent of small-business owners think the current economic downturn is threatening their ability to survive.
NBC 4's Mikaela Hunt is working Monday to get answers. Watch her full report tonight at 5:30 p.m.
That was according to a new national small-business poll called Access to Credit, published by the National Federation of Independent Business Research Foundation.
Another third said the nation’s financial situation has "significantly" affected their business. However, tight credit is not the principal problem.
"The fundamental small-business problem is the poor economy, abetted by the drop in real estate values and the nation’s financial turmoil," William Dennis, the poll’s author, said.
Forty-five percent said slow or lost sales was their most immediate problem, followed by the unpredictability of business conditions (23 percent) and falling real estate values (9 percent).
About three-quarters of small-business owners have at least one mortgage on real estate they own, and 22 percent have taken out at least one mortgage to finance business activities.
Sixteen percent use real estate as collateral for other business assets, and many were feeling the squeeze of the drop in real estate values.
One in 10 now have negative equity in at least one property.
"Efforts to provide additional credit, whether through encouraging bank lending or government loan guarantees, are not likely to be of much help to small-business owners," Dennis said. "Those businesses who report they can’t get credit are typically unable to absorb more debt."
Rather, Dennis said, the government should pass a recent NFIB proposal to create a six-month payroll tax holiday to stimulate the economy and generate sales for small businesses.
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