Owner of Advantage Payroll Services in Freeport, N.Y.
I own a building in a New York State empire zone.
An empire zone is an economically distressed region that offers tax incentives to businesses. The idea is to attract companies to these areas to create jobs and hire people.
The good news is that I am eligible for New York state tax credits. The bad news is getting them is difficult and costing me tens of thousands of dollars each year.
There is endless documentation and computation.
It's so bad that I have to pay an outside agency nearly $20,000 a year just to take care of the paperwork.
The program -- which is a great idea -- is supposed to help me. But really one hand is giving and the other is taking away.
To make matter worse, a new law is adding to my paperwork woes. The Wage Theft Prevention Act, which went into effect this past April, requires employers to properly provide yearly pay notices and proper wage statements to their employees.
That means that I have to keep even more records on my staff than I did before. It's completely unnecessary, but we have to comply. It's the law.
I am frustrated that our political leaders don't understand what business owners have to deal with on a daily basis. But they still make these decisions.
We asked 10 small businesspeople what would they ask President Obama to do to make it easier for them to hire.
