Newtek Business Services, The Small Business Authority, with a portfolio of over 100,000 business accounts, announced today the findings of its SB Authority Market Sentiment Survey, a monthly window into the concerns of independent business owners. Based on a poll of over 1,300 respondents, one of the key findings from the February survey is 48 percent of business owners would not prefer a flat tax rate, even if it would not affect their payment in 2012. Additionally, 57 percent would prefer to pay the same tax amount and would be willing to receive the same or less government services, instead of paying a greater tax and receiving more government services. The survey also depicts that 55 percent of independent business owners surveyed do not completely understand the tax returns they sign off on.

Barry Sloane, Chairman, President and CEO of The Small Business Authority commented, "Once again we find interesting dynamics in our SB Authority Market Sentiment Survey. It is clear from the results of our poll that the majority of business owners, despite wanting tax simplification, would prefer not to have a flat tax and give up all their deductions. The fear of the unknown, which is what their effective rate would be versus tax simplification, is not a tradeoff that they are prepared to make at this point in time. It was also interesting to note that business owners clearly do not believe they are getting a good return on their tax dollars, as the majority prefers to have the same tax contribution for fewer services than a greater tax contribution for greater potential government spending. The 1,300 independent business owners surveyed believe that the government inefficiently uses tax dollars. Lastly, we greatly appreciate the candor of our surveyed independent business owners who, in the majority, admit they do not fully understand all aspects of their tax return that they sign off on. Taxes for small businesses are complicated to compute, a necessary evil and unfortunately are not completely understood by the independent business owner community."