Right around tax day, the National Small Business Association (NSBA) released the results of its 2011 Small Business Taxation Survey, because that’s what we all want to do at that time of year: talk taxes. The survey demonstrated yet another instance in which there was a critical microbusiness issue but, evidently, there weren’t very many microbusinesses available to answer the questions about it. Survey respondents identified economic uncertainty as the top challenge facing their business by a wide margin (66%), followed by “Decline in customer spending” (39%), “Cost of health insurance benefits” (35%), and regulatory burdens (32%). Federal taxes rounds out the top five (29%). In light of the fact that 87% of small business owner respondents report paying an outside professional to prepare their taxes, it is somewhat shocking that almost 60% of small business owners still spend more than 40 hours dealing with federal taxes.

Another interesting set of numbers to emerge from this survey has to do with deductions. As much as lawmakers like to pat themselves on the back for repeatedly increasing Section 179 expensing, only 47% of these small business owners use it. And, under the category of Least Surprising Survey Result, only 18% of these respondents take the home office deduction, in spite of the fact that 28% report working out of a home office. Finally, almost two-thirds of survey respondents here support a combination of simplification and reduced tax rates as their preferred tack for reform. Then again, six in ten would also favor a proposal such as the Fair Tax Act of 2011 (H.R. 25), which would eliminate income taxes, payroll taxes, estate taxes and gift taxes, and replace them all with a 23% national sales tax. Whatever your opinion of that proposal may be, it would be difficult to argue with the proposition that tax reform is urgently needed.